Sonic the Hedgehog: Endgame The Re-Write
by Mixedfan8643
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin, a re-write of the very mediocre Endgame saga from Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog. I wrote it on my DA account last year and now I'm publishing it here as well. This re-write fixes many of the story's problems such as having less sub-plots, twists that make more sense and the characters NOT acting like morons this time. Hope you enjoy this re-write! :D
1. Taking the Fall

**Based on the original comic book story written by Ken Penders, Kent Taylor, Mike Gallagher and Karl Bollers for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog Issues 47-50 and published by Archie Comics.**  
**This re-write is intended for entertainment purposes and is also intended for those who feel the original Endgame story was lackluster and could have been better. No offence is intended for anyone who enjoyed the original story.**

**Part 1: Taking the Fall**

Another day.

This was just another day on the job for the Freedom Fighters. After resting up from that long debate around the campfire last night, the Freedom Fighters had geared up and had left to do their next mission. They weren't alone for this one though, they were teamed up with their good allies and friends, the Wolf Pack. The Freedom Fighters and Wolf Pack had sneaked inside the enormous, metallic metropolis that is Robotropolis, the home place and refuge of the nefarious Dr. Robotnik, the very man who betrayed the world and took it over in the blink of an eye after once serving the king and helping the Mobians to win their war with The Overlanders years ago. After getting inside Robotropolis, the Freedom Fighters and Wolf Pack had set up in strategic places all around the city. The set-up was like this: Sonic the Hedgehog and the beautiful Princess Sally Acorn were breaking and entering the main base of operations. On standby were Tails the twin-tailed fox, junior member of the Freedom Fighters and budding mechanic, Bunnie Rabbot, obligatorily named because of her being a cyborg rabbit thanks to being partially roboticized, Antoine D'Coolette, the Freedom Fighter coward and son of a soldier and Rotor Walrus, the team's scientific member and builder of many weapons, particularly the Party-Hearty Quadra Sonic Rock n' Roller which was a weapon capable of busting through zones (that's pretty damn destructive!). The Wolf Pack was all together and in another section of the city. Their job was to keep watch and see how Sonic and Sally fare out and once the two were in place, they were to call the Freedom Fighters and inform them on what's happening. Then on Sonic and Sally's signal, the Freedom Fighters would move in and storm Robotnik's base. This whole mission was for sabotage purposes and to finally bring down Dr. Robotnik once and for all. He had been in control of the world for too long and it was about time the Freedom Fighters brought him down. As the teams were all setting up, everybody was just about bubbling with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Excitement in the case that this could possibly be it and anxiety in the case of they're in enemy territory and when dealing with Dr. Robotnik, you never know what will happen for the good doctor often has a surprise or two up his sleeves. This was a day that everybody was both looking forward to and dreading at the same time given what they were all in for. Sonic and Sally were slowly trekking through the robotical city and heading up to the command center, the main base of operations for Robotropolis, the very place Robotnik was residing in now. Inside that base was their greatest enemy and the one guy who was keeping them from their freedom, Dr. Robotnik. They arrived at a pile of machinery and crouched down low behind it to make sure they weren't seen be anything that might be patrolling around, be it a SWAT-bot or a spy-cam. There was nothing around at the moment so Sally took out a pair of binoculars she had in her vest pocket and she peered up at the top of the command center through them. The smell of machinery and oil from the robot-producing factories all around Robotropolis hung in the air but Sonic and Sally managed to ignore the smell and focus on the task at hand.

"OK Sonic, here's our target for tonight." said Sally as she observed the top deck of the base through her binoculars "The very pinnacle of Robotnik's base. Are you ready for this."

"Sal, there's never a time when I'm "not ready"." said Sonic snarkily "I was ready the moment we arrived here."

"Cute." chuckled Sally sarcastically "But please be serious Sonic, this is probably one of the most dangerous missions we're ever going to participate in. We need to be ready for everything if we're to make it out of this horrific place alive."

"I know, I know, I just like to remain optimistic that's all." said Sonic "A positive attitude's always a good thing to have when on a mission like this. Helps us focus and prepares us for anything."

"That I agree with." said Sally with a smile, putting her binoculars away in her vest pocket "Now Sonic here's what we're gonna do, you will run up to the pinnacle of the base with me holding onto you and once up there, we'll break into the base and bring down Robotnik once and for all. Once the others get our signal, which will be this flare I'll send up once we're inside..." she paused for a moment to take something out of her vest and show it to Sonic. It was a silver, metal stick that could send off flares at the push of a button "...they'll join us and we'll bring the command center down to the ground. Got that?"

"To the letter Sal." said Sonic brightly "So you ready to begin?"

"Definitely." said Sally "Let us end Robotnik's oppression over us!"

With that said, Sonic scooped Sally up bridal style and prepared to run.

"Hold on tight Sal, this ride's gonna be tight!" cried Sonic as he revved his feet up.

He whooshed off like a speeding arrow towards the command center and, since he can run fast and all, he ran directly up the wall of the center and started whizzing towards the top of it. Sally resisted the urge to squeal with excitement as Sonic carried her up the wall of the command center and the wind blew past her and Sonic as he ran. This was a thrill ride for the princess and she was loving it. But all good things must come to an end for Sonic eventually arrived at the pinnacle of the command center and he put Sally down on the floor of the top deck they were on. The whole thing had been observed by the chief leader of the Wolf Pack, Lupe. She and the wolf pack were stationed a few yards away from the command center and Lupe was watching Sonic and Sally's movements through a pair of binoculars. She was pleased to see that the two had reached the top. Everything was going according to plan for the moment.

"My dear wolves, Sonic and Sally have reached the pinnacle of the command centre right on schedule." said Lupe brightly "All is going according to plan so far. If all goes well, Robotnik won't know what hit him."

The wolves all smiled happily at this news and they prepared for their turn to come into play. One wolf was less happy about all of this though and that was Drago Wolf, one of the more headstrong members of the pack with a bit of an ego to him.

"Good news indeed chief, although I'd be much happier if it was just us doing this mission." grumbled Drago "We're far more capable then those Freedom Fighters!"

"Drago, I will thank you for not belittling our comrades." said Lupe sternly "We are allies of the Freedom Fighters and we are in this together. Besides, the might of the pack alone is not enough to bring down the walls surrounding Dr. Robotnik."

"I...understand now chief." said Drago, his disdain still evident in his voice "Please excuse my unneeded outburst."

"It's quite alright Drago, just remember to keep your obstinance in check." said Lupe kindly "Now then, I shall contact the Freedom Fighters and inform them on Sonic and the Princess's current location."

With that said, a Wolf Pack member handed Lupe a communications device and she pressed a few buttons on it.

Over to the Freedom Fighters, Tails, Bunnie, Antoine and Rotor were atop a tall building that matched about half of the command center's height and they were keeping a look out for any signs of trouble. Rotor had a pair of binoculars in his hands and he was peering through them.

"Is there anything around Rotor?" asked Tails nervously.

"There's nothing around here so far little guy." said Rotor, the tone in his voice suggesting he didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing at all "Everything's still clear. Once we receive Sonic and Sally's signal, it seems we're going to have a clear charge to the command center."

"That sounds great." said Tails happily "I can't wait to take down that bloated baddie for good!"

"While ah'm equally as ecstatic about takin' down Robotnik, ah can't help but be a little anxious about all this." said Bunnie with a tone of concern in her voice "Ah mean, everythin' seems a lil' too quiet and empty for mah likin'. It's like Robotnik ain't even concerned about us bein' here or somethin'. Shouldn't he at least have some kind of patrol or somethin'?"

"Bunnie, ma Cherie, do not be worrying about zis." said Antoine reassuringly "It is early in ze morning do not forget. Robotnik might still be sleeping at zis time for all we know."

"Maybe so but surely he'd still have a patrol or somethin', ah mean his robots don't need to sleep." noted Bunnie "Ah can't help but think that Robotnik's up to somethin' right now."

Before Antoine could say anything else to the anxious Rabbot, his communicator device started ringing (the ringtone is the theme song to the first Sonic the Hedgehog game for the SEGA Genesis by the way).

"Zut alors! My communicator!" cried Antoine "It must be ze wolf pack."

He took the communicator off of his belt and answered it.

"Bonjour, is zat you Lupe?" he asked.

"It is indeed Antoine, Sonic and Sally have reached the pinnacle so you can focus your attention on them now." came the voice of Lupe on the other side of the communicator "The Wolf Pack is ready and waiting to move on their signal."

"Ah, zat is being very good right now." said Antoine brightly "We are standing by and are waiting for ze signal too. Be ready to move Lupe, OK?"

"Certainly. Over and out." said Lupe, switching off for the call was at an end now.

Antoine put his communicator back on his belt and looked out at the command center, his eyes completely fixed at the top of it. Rotor had heard Lupe's message and he was now peering up at the top with his binoculars. He could see Sonic and Sally just atop the building and getting ready to make their next move.

"They're up on the top decks, they'll be making a move any minute now." said Rotor "Get ready for the flare."

"We are Rotor." said Tails "Let us hope everything goes well from here. I don't know how I'd feel if things suddenly started going wrong."

"I agree Tails, if something started going wrong, I don't know what I'd do." said Rotor "So let's keep our fingers crossed and hope the rest of the plan goes smoothly."

Tails nodded and he focused his attention on the command center. His best friend and his surrogate auntie were up on the top floors of the command center. It was plain sailing from there but even at a moment like this, they had to be prepared for everything. Tails began to wish he had some binoculars with him so he could watch Sonic and Sally along with Rotor too. As is, he'd just have to look up and take from Rotor what was happening since he was the one with the binoculars.

Meanwhile, up on the top deck of the command center, Sonic had his back pressed against the wall and he was keeping a cautious look-out around the corner to make sure nothing was there. He peeked around the corner and saw nothing around so he was ready to carry on moving. But he soon noticed that Sally wasn't looking too well. She was leaning against the wall with her hand on her head and looking deep in thought about something. Something seemed to be bothering the princess so Sonic decided to see what was up.

"Yo Sal, is everything alright?" he asked "You look a million miles away."

"Huh?" murmured Sally as she snapped out of her thoughts "Oh sorry, I must have drifted off for a minute. Yeah, everything's OK Sonic." she assured the super-speedy hedgehog in the red sneakers.

"You sure?" asked Sonic with concern.

"Positive." said Sally "Let's find an entrance point in this thing."

"OK Sal." said Sonic "I'll go around the back and you search around here."

Sally nodded and she remained where she was while Sonic ran off around the back of the floor they were on to see if he could find a way into the center. As Sally searched for a way in, her mind began to wonder again for she had so many things on her head that she couldn't help but let her mind wander.

_Gosh. Ever since that campfire last night, I've been getting a little worried about a few things._ she thought to herself _So many accusations were made that night. So many suspicions were aroused. Uncle Chuck could be a Robotnik spy, Geoffrey St. John's as shady as he seems and may still be working for Robotnik, especially as Antoine's accusations have a lot of weight behind them. And Drago Wolf's a suspicious character. According to Lupe, he's gone off about three times in a week without official leave. I can't help but worry if any of the accusations made at that campfire last night might be true and there maybe somebody betraying us and working for Robotnik. I can't let it bother me though, I've got to focus on the mission, the mission is what matters more than anything right now..._

Sally decided to subside her thoughts for the time being and she continued looking for a way inside. As Sally came to a corner and peeked around it, she got the shock of her life. A whole horde of SWAT-bots were standing by and waiting and they all saw Sally as she came around the corner! They all reacted immediately at the mere sight of Sally.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" screeched the SWAT-bots "Seize the intruder and bring her to Dr. Robotnik immediately!"

That made Sally take off and take off FAST as the SWAT-bots all raised their arms, aiming their blasters at her and started running after her the moment she darted off. Unfortunately for Sally, the SWAT-bots seemed to be a little smarter than normal for some SWAT-bots ran around the other side and blocked her escape route. Sally screeched to a halt and screamed in surprise as SWAT-bots blocked off the route around the other side of the building. She was now surrounded by SWAT-bots and since Sonic seemed to be gone, he wouldn't be able to help her right about now. The SWAT-bots began to close in on her and they prepared to grab her.

"Sonic? Sonic?! HELP!" yelped Sally as she began to back away from the SWAT-bots.

Over to the Freedom Fighters, Rotor was watching what was going on through his binoculars and he just about had a heart-attack over what he was seeing.

"Oh my gosh! Sally's surrounded by SWAT-bots!" cried Rotor "And Sonic isn't around to save her!"

"Oh mah stars!" exclaimed Bunnie.

"Aunt Sally's surrounded by SWAT-bots?!" yelped Tails in worry "Oh no! Why isn't Sonic helping her?"

"Sacre bleu!" screeched Antoine "Ze princess is in danger?! We must be helping her immediately!"

"Hold these for me!" ordered Rotor, tossing the binoculars over to Antoine "I'll save Sally with this big gun I've been hoping to test for a while..."

He then pulled out of a pouch on his belt a small power-drill. He pressed a button on the power drill and it extended into an enormous bazooka with extra cannon barrels. This was the Party-Hearty Quadra Sonic Rock n' Roller that be invented a while ago. Rotor hadn't used it in combat yet so he was eager to see how effective it was. He set the power so it wouldn't be too powerful and he aimed at the SWAT-bots surrounding Sally. The terrified princess was backed against a wall and completely surrounded by the SWAT-bots. She was going nowhere now and the SWAT-bots were ready to grab her and take her to be roboticized. But before they could grab her, Rotor fired the bazooka at the SWAT-bots. The SWAT-bots were hit in the backs by a powerful blast that struck about eight of them all at once. The blast was enough to bring them all down and they collapsed at Sally's feet. Some SWAT-bots were left and they aimed their blasters at Rotor. Before they could attempt to shoot him though, Rotor blasted them to pieces too. The SWAT-bots were all dead thanks to Rotor and Sally was safe for the moment. Sally put her hand over her pounding heart and she sighed with relief.

"Aw thank goodness for Rotor and his excellent weaponry." she gasped "That was too close."

As for the Freedom Fighters, they began to cheer with excitement.

"Well shot Rotor! You've saved Aunt Sally!" cheered Tails.

"Very well done indeed Rotor!" cried Bunnie ecstatically.

"Aw thanks guys." said Rotor happily "But I have a feeling Sally may not be safe yet. Robotnik might sic something else on her."

"I am hoping zat Sonic will be around to help her if ze princess ends up in trouble again." said Antoine, trembling furiously "We cannot be helping from ze sidelines all ze time after all."

Back up on the command center, Sally continued looking for a way into the center but her search was cut off by an unexpected arrival. For as she ran around the corner the SWAT-bots had been around, she saw Sonic the Hedgehog standing there and waiting for her. That surprised and delighted Sally at the same time for she wasn't expecting to see him there and had expected him to be inside the building already.

"Oh, Sonic, there you are." said Sally "Where were you? I called for help when the SWAT-bots attacked me and you didn't answer me."

"Sorry about that Sal, I found a way inside the building and I didn't hear you." said Sonic "Are you safe now?" he asked.

"I am now you're here." said Sally graciously.

"Good...now I get to finish you off myself." said Sonic, his voice colder than ice.

Before Sally could ask what Sonic meant by that, Sonic suddenly lashed out and grabbed Sally by the throat! Sally gagged and choked in surprise as Sonic did that. Sonic then proceeded to life the horrified chipmunk off her feet by her neck and he carried her over to the edge of the building. Sally squirmed in Sonic's grasp, desperate to get free but the hedgehog's grip was too strong for her.

"Urk...Sonic...release me at once!" gagged Sally "What the hell are...you doing...?!"

"What the doctor ordered." said Sonic, a sick, twisted devil's grin spread out on his face as he said that.

As for the Freedom Fighters, Antoine was looking through the binoculars and he could see something was happening. And that something was something that made his eyes widen so much they nearly popped out of his sockets and his mouth dropped open. Sonic was carrying Sally over to the edge of the building by the throat and he appeared to be preparing to throw her off of it!

"Sacre bleu!" screeched Antoine "What in ze heck is Sonic doing?!"

"What? What's going on?" asked Tails, snatching the binoculars off of Antoine and looking through them himself.

He could see what Antoine had seen and his tails straightened in surprise at what he was looking at.

"WHAT IS SONIC DOING?!" he exclaimed in horror "He's...he's...holding Aunt Sally over the edge of the building!"

"Oh mah stars! Why is he doing that?!" cried Bunnie in horror.

"I dunno, but I'm gonna save Aunt Sally!" declared Tails, throwing the binoculars over to Rotor and twisting his namesakes around one another.

He took off and flew towards the command center to stop Sonic from dropping Sally. Over to Sonic, he stood on the edge of the barrier with Sally in his grasp and he was choking her more than ever. Sally still squirmed desperately in his grasp, trying to make him let go of her neck so she could throw herself forwards and make him fall backwards. But Sonic's grip was too strong for her and Sally couldn't do anything.

"Sonic please...don't do this!" begged Sally, tears coming to her eyes as Sonic prepared to do the one thing she thought he was going to do.

"Sorry Sal, but the hedgehog's with Robotnik now." said Sonic, his voice dangerously soft and threatening sounding "So long doll-face..."

Tears began to stream down Sally's horrified face as Sonic did the one thing that she never would have expected him to do. He drew his arm back, thrust it forward and let go of Sally's neck. Sally was thrown backwards by Sonic and she began to plummet down to the ground below, her screams of terror echoing ominously around the city as she began to fall. Tails could see that Sally was falling down from the command center and he flew on as fast as he possibly could, desperate to catch her and save her life. Tails' heart began to race as he flew on towards the falling Sally. He almost didn't make it for Sally was almost about to crash down on the ground below. But Tails only just managed to catch Sally by the vest. But then something else went wrong. As Tails caught Sally by the vest and tried to lower her to safety, Sally ended up accidentally slipping out of the vest for Tails was pulling on it too hard and her weight dragged her down and she continued her interrupted plummet. Tails was only about fifteen feet above the ground so Sally didn't have much of a fall left. What followed after slipping out of her vest was a sickening crunch sound as Sally came down with a crash on the ground below. Sally's tearful eyes closed and she lay there, completely motionless on the ground and seemingly dead. Sonic, who had watched her fall from up above, just hopped off the barrier and wandered off. Tails was so horrified at all of this that he almost forgot he was supposed to be flying and fell down with her. He put his hands to his mouth in shock and stared at Sally's unconscious body.

"Oh no...!" he gasped hoarsely "Aunt Sally!"

Antoine had witnessed the horrifying event through the binoculars and he almost went mental with shock at what had happened.

"Zut alors!" he gasped "Sonic threw Sally off ze building! We must get to her now and make sure she is OK!"

"Hang on Tails, we're comin'!" cried Bunnie, extending her robotical legs and hopping off the building they were currently on.

But just as Bunnie was jumping off the building and hopping onto another one, a large gun turret extended up from a nearby building and started blasting at her. Bunnie yelped in surprise and she ran off out of the turret's way as it began to shoot at her. The Wolf Pack could see that something was going horribly wrong so they decided to attack without the signal. They all leaped off of the building they were on, howling their trademark battle cries and they ran towards where Bunnie Rabbot was. One wolf aimed a gun he held in his hands at the gun turret and he blasted it to smithereens in one shot. The gun turret wasn't the only thing that was coming out though, a horde of SWAT-bots were coming out of the command center and spreading out into the city like an infestation of rodents spreading out across the perimeter of the place they were in. They all began shooting at the Freedom Fighters and the Wolf Pack but the two teams fought back with their much stronger weaponry. Rotor blasted many SWAT-bots away with his bazooka, Bunnie punched through some of them and the Wolf Pack blasted and bombed them with the weapon supplies they had with them. Drago Wolf had a flamethrower and he activated it, blazing some SWAT-bots away and making them back off. Thanks to the combined efforts of the two teams, Bunnie was able to reach Sally at last. She knelt down by her still body and wondered if she was alright. Her eyes began to brim with tears. Tails was standing beside Sally's body too and he looked equally as upset about it.

"Oh Sally girl...what did sugah-hog...do to ya'll...?" said Bunnie in despair "Why...did he do this to ya'll?"

"I can't believe Sonic would do this to Aunt Sally!" wailed Tails "He's a hero and Sally's love interest! Why would he try to kill her?!"

"Ah dunno honey but we've gotta get Sally back to Knothole and get her to Doctor Quack and see if she's gonna be OK." Said Bunnie, feeling Sally's pulse "She's still alive now but ah'm not sure if she'll be alive for much longer if we stay here."

"I agree Bunnie." said Tails "But first, we've gotta get past those SWAT-bots."

Bunnie nodded and she left Tails to watch over Sally while she helped to bust down some SWAT-bots and clear the way for everybody.

While all this was happening, Sonic the Hedgehog had found a way into the center and was rushing through the corridors, looking for Robotnik. He had just managed to find a way inside before Sally got ambushed by the SWAT-bots and he had called for her to say he'd found a way in but he had received no answer for Sally had been deep in thought when he called for her and thus, hadn't heard him. He'd called for her again but the noise of the SWAT-bots had drowned out his calls so Sally didn't hear him the second time. He just assumed that Sally had already made it inside before he did and thus, he went down the vent shaft just before some SWAT-bots had gone around where he was to corner Sally. He was running through the corridors and searching for Robotnik. At this very moment, he seemed to have found him for he came across a door that looked promising to him. It was a rather large door with warning stripes around it.

"Hmm...I wonder who's behind this door?" wondered Sonic as he spin-dashed into it and broke it down.

Surely enough, as he broke the door down, he saw that none other than Dr. Robotnik was on the other side. He was sitting in his hi-tech chair with his pointy-nosed sidekick Snively at his side. They were watching the computer monitors to see what was happening but Sonic spin-dashing the door down had caught their attention and made them turn away from what they were watching. Dr. Robotnik's evil black eyes widened a little at the sight of Sonic but he quickly regained himself and shook of the surprise.

"Greetings hedgehog." purred Dr. Robotnik, his deep, ominous voice rumbling around the room like an earthquake "How prompt of you to drop by. I was expecting you to show up at some point today."

"Hey there Ro-butt-nik!" said Sonic in his usual snarky attitude "Your days are numbered for the gang's all here and we're gonna bring you down once and for all! Either you surrender and make this nice and easy for everyone or you be a stubborn jerk and make this hard on yourself."

"I do not think any of those options will suffice Sonic." crooned Robotnik malevolently "I will not be doing anything and neither will you for there's a dear friend of yours in need of assistance..."

He moved got up out of his chair and stood to the side so Sonic could see what was on the computer monitor that he was watching. Sonic stared at the computer monitor and his eyes widened in horror. He could see Princess Sally lying on the ground, completely unconscious and being guarded by a very upset looking Tails. Sonic was so horrified at what he was looking at that he forgot he was supposed to be here to stop Dr. Robotnik and he stared hard at the monitor. Eerily enough, Dr. Robotnik made no attempt to run away. He just stood there and watched Sonic's horrified reaction to all of this. He seemed to be getting great satisfaction out of seeing Sonic horrified at what had happened to Sally.

"Oh my gosh...Sally!" cried Sonic "What did you do to her Robotnik?!"

"Me?" sneered Robotnik innocently "I haven't laid a finger on the poor princess. I let one of my minions do the dirty work for me instead."

"Robotnik, what did you do to her?!" snarled Sonic threateningly.

"I'll leave you to work that out." laughed Robotnik "Let's just say, "fall" came a little early for her. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Sonic quickly realized what Robotnik meant. Sally had fallen off the command center. But how did that happen? He knew Sally wasn't clumsy or anything so she can't have intentionally fallen off the building. Did Robotnik throw her off or did a SWAT-bot throw her off or did Sally just get knocked off by something? Whatever the case was, Sonic was going to kick Dr. Robotnik's flabby backside for doing this to his dear girlfriend.

"You scum! I'll flatten you into mush for that!" yelled Sonic

But then suddenly, a laser came out of the ceiling and blasted at Sonic, forcing him to stop dead in his tracks and back off. There wasn't just one laser though, there were several more in the ceiling and they all began shooting down at Sonic. Sonic ran around quickly in order to dodge all the lasers. As he was doing this, Dr. Robotnik thumped a button on the wall and an escape chute opened up for him in the floor.

"I'd love to stay and chat Sonic, but I'm afraid I am needed elsewhere." purred Robotnik darkly "My ultimate plan is under way and I need to get to it and fast. See you later...provided your friends do not arrest you and lock you away first."

What followed this was a loud, haunting cackle from Dr. Robotnik as he jumped down the escape chute and fled from his command room, leaving poor Sonic to dodge all the shooting lasers in the ceiling. Luckily for Sonic though, he managed to weave his way around the lasers fast enough to avoid getting shot by them and he made it to the broken down door which was his only exit from the ceiling lasers. Sonic stopped for a moment to catch his breath and he panted heavily to himself.

"Whew...just survived...stupid Robotnik..." he panted "Got away...again...pant...gasp..."

After finally catching his breath back, he began to wonder to himself.

"What did happen to Sally? Was she thrown off by somebody? Did somebody knock her off the building? And what does Robotnik mean by "provided my friends do not arrest me and lock me away first"? Is that guy just trying to confuse me or something? We can all agree though that Sally's hurt, possibly dead, and it's all my fault! I should have checked to see if she had found a way in herself before I went in!" he moaned to himself, slapping his forehead in annoyance "Man Sonic, why do you have to be so reckless at times?!"

He soon shook off his thoughts and focused back on reality.

"I may have caused this to happen but I can make it up by being at Sally's side to see if she's alright." said Sonic "I sure hope she is."

With that said, Sonic revved up his feet and he whizzed off through the corridors to get out of the base and back outside. He had a long corridor to run through but with his super-speed, he would make it out quickly and he'd arrive back outside so he could see if Sally was OK...

Meanwhile, the Freedom Fighters and the Wolf Pack had finally managed to fend off all the SWAT-bots and they had run off in a hasty but imperative retreat. Bunnie was carrying Sally as everybody fled the city and headed off out into the meadow where they had parked their only mode of transportation. And that mode of transportation was a red bi-plane that had enough room for all the Freedom Fighters. The Wolf Pack didn't have a mode of transportation, they had simply come to Robotropolis on foot (wolves have tremendous stamina and can cover large distances so they're OK to just walk or run to the city). The Freedom Fighters all piled up into the plane with Antoine taking the pilot's seat for he was piloting the plane and Sally taking the seat next to him. Tails, Bunnie and Rotor all sat in the back seat and Antoine started the plan off.

"Well zat mission was a disaster!" cried Antoine in despair "Our princess gets thrown off ze building by Sonic and now we are ze retreating because of zis! Zis has been a most terrible day indeed!"

"Ah'll say it has sugah-twan." said Bunnie, sharing the coyote's disappointment "Ah was hopin' we were in for an easy mission and instead, we're comin' home with a casualty. Ah sure hope that casualty doesn't become a fatality."

"I am hoping zat too." said Antoine as the plane started up and the propeller blades started spinning around "If Sally is dead because of Sonic, I will never forgive him!"

"I'm still trying to believe that all of this is really happening!" wailed Tails "I'm hoping that this is all a bad dream and we're gonna wake up soon!"

"We're all hoping that Tails but we are awake and this is no dream I'm afraid." said Rotor grimly "Everything we just saw really did just happen."

"I know but...it's still unbelievable!" cried Tails "How could Sonic do this to Sally?!"

"I wish I knew Tails..." murmured Rotor as the plane taxied around and took off into the sky "I wish I knew..."

The plane flew off and left the city of Robotropolis behind. Its destination now was back home to Knothole where they would get Sally to Dr. Quack and see if she was going to pull through or not. As the plane took off, the Wolf Pack decided to make a steady trek back to their home for they felt the Freedom Fighters needed a moment on their own with Sally. The moment the plane left and disappeared up behind the clouds and the Wolf Pack left, Sonic the Hedgehog arrived on the scene and he screeched to a halt the moment he saw that the plane was gone. He looked around wildly, wondering if he was in the right place or not. The scenery looked the same as it did when they had arrived with the only visible different being the absence of a parked plane so he was definitely in the right place.

"Huh?!" blurted Sonic aloud "What the heck...? Where is everyone? Why are they all gone? Did they just abandon me? Or do they know what's happened to Sally and are taking her home to get some medical treatment? If it's the latter then I can understand that. Oh well, I've gotta get home so I can be there for Sally!"

With that said, Sonic zoomed off again and headed off in the direction Knothole was located in. It would take him a while to arrive there but he'd make it eventually, given how fast he was, and he would see what was going on with the others since they were likely already back home now...

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Robotropolis, Dr. Robotnik arrived back up in his base room with Snively beside him. After Sonic had left, the two had taken an elevator back up to the top floor of the base and they settled back down inside the base room. Dr. Robotnik sat down in his chair and sighed with content as he lay back and relaxed.

"How clever it was of me to fool Sonic into thinking I was fleeing so he would leave the place and not bother coming for me." he crooned "And now I'm back in my seat of power and eagerly awaiting what will happen next."

"Indeed sir." purred Snively, his face contorting with evil "And I will say, your genius plan is definitely going well. After our agent told us everything the Freedom Fighters were going to be doing, it was straight forward for us wasn't it?"

"Of course Snively." cackled Robotnik "Now Sally is, hopefully, dead and Sonic will take the rap for it thanks to my very convincing looking Automaton Sonic I constructed for this very plan..."

As he said that, the door opened up and "Sonic the Hedgehog" strolled inside. This, of course, was not the real Sonic the Hedgehog, it was an Automaton designed like Sonic. It evoked his likeliness and his voice to perfection and he had no visible differences on him whatsoever. No wonder everybody was so fooled by this, the Automaton Sonic was practically the spitting image of Sonic so anyone could have been fooled by this, even Dr. Robotnik if he hadn't been the one to invent it. Auto-Sonic strode over to Dr. Robotnik and he bowed down loyally to him.

"I did as you instructed sir." said the Automaton in a perfect impression of Sonic's voice.

"I know you did my excellent little robot." said Dr. Robotnik brightly, patting the Sonic copy on the head and smiling brightly "I really did admire the look on Sally's face when her "precious Sonic" threw her off the building. You did very well Auto-Sonic and thanks to you, the Freedom Fighters will accuse Sonic of the murder, or at the least ATTEMPTED murder, of Sally Acorn and with that little thorn in my side out of the way, I'll be able to commence with my ultimate plan and he won't be able to stop it! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Snively joined in with his evil uncle as he began to laugh away gleefully. Dr. Robotnik really was behind Sally being thrown off the command center and it seemed that Sonic was definitely going to be blamed for it since everybody had been fooled by the Automaton Sonic. Sonic was in for it once he arrived back home and then Robotnik could commence with his ultimate plan to wipe out the Freedom Fighters...

* * *

Back at Knothole, Sally had been rushed into Rosie the Woodchuck's hut immediately and Dr. Quack had been called around to have a look at her. Sally was lying on a bed with everybody gathered around her and Dr. Quack studied her unconscious body closely. He had brought over much of the necessary equipment needed for this so he was able to analyze her accurately at least. He X-rayed her and monitored her heart-beat. Everybody was watching tensely as they waited for Dr. Quack to give his statement. After a few minutes, Dr. Quack finished analyzing Sally and he turned to the others.

"I'm pleased to announce that the princess will live." he said grimly "But she's in a coma right now and she will not wake up for a long time. The poor dear fractured quite a few bones in that fall but luckily, nothing vital has been fractured. She just needs a few day's rest and she'll hopefully recover from what has happened to her."

"Oh thank goodness..." said Rotor with relief "Sally's going to live."

"Just a pity she'll be asleep for a while." said Tails sadly "That fall must have been really bad. It might have been worse had I not tried to save her."

"Yeah, ah think you may have saved Sally's life Tails." said Bunnie "Ya'll caught her by the vest but she feel outta it and fell down to the ground just a few feet above it. Had she just fallen and that was it, she might not have been so lucky.

"I agree ma Cherie." said Antoine "Tails has saved ze princess from a worse fate. Very well done Tails."

"Thanks guys...but I should have saved her from falling all the way, not just partially." murmured Tails "I could have saved her all this that's happened to her now but I didn't. I really wish I did."

"Don't be hard on yourself Tails, just be thankful that you managed to stop Sally's fall from being fatal." said Rotor kindly "She's survived and has a chance to recover, be happy about that."

Tails smiled weakly at Rotor, his smile not really a real smile, and he nodded at him. Then suddenly, much to everybody's surprise, the door flung open and in ran Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic screeched to a halt before everybody and everybody stared at him in surprise.

"Hey everybody, what's going on?!" blurted Sonic "Is Sally OK?"

"No she isn't...no thanks to you!" yelled Antoine, pointing an accusing finger at Sonic like a rapier "You, you slimy little traitor, tried to murder our princess but thanks to Tails, she survived your little murder attempt and will pull through! I am betting zay you are here to finish her off non?"

Sonic looked like somebody had just pulled a knife on him.

"WHAT?!" he blurted at the top of his lungs "What the sandhill are you on about Antoine?! I didn't try to murder Sally at all! I was INSIDE the command center and I found out from ol' Butt-nik himself that Sally's been hurt! I came here so I can be by her side and hope she gets better!"

"Ah wish we could beleive you sugah-hog but sadly, we can't." said Bunnie sadly.

"Oui, we saw you doing it with our own eyes!" yelled Antoine "We saw you through ze binoculars zat you grabbed Sally by ze throat and then through her off ze building in an attempt to murder her!"

"Hey Antoine, get your hair sorted out, I didn't do anything of the sort!" bellowed Sonic "And how can you even THINK that I would attempt to kill the love of my life?!"

"Because they witnessed it mate and you're going down for this baneful act of treason!" yelled a voice that Sonic seriously didn't want to hear right about now.

The hedgehog turned around and saw that the voice belong to none other than Geoffrey St. John, one of his arch-rivals and contender for Sally's affections. Geoffrey had been informed on what had happened and he had brought his two friends, Lieutenants Smiley and Fleming, with him. He was keen to have Sonic arrested for he never liked him from the start and he loved Sally himself so he was all too happy to make Sonic pay for what he did to her.

"Oh great, just what we need, Geoffrey St. Jackass stinking things up more than they already have been!" scoffed Sonic.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that insult." said Geoffrey through gritted teeth "And instead, do this: arrest him Smiley and Fleming!"

With that said, Smiley and Fleming seized Sonic by the arms and they snapped a pair of handcuffs around his wrists. Sonic made no effort to break free since that wouldn't do anyone any favours at all, or prove his innocence for an innocent person wouldn't resist.

"You Sonic the Hedgehog, are under arrest for the attempted murder of Princess Sally Acorn!" growled Geoffrey "And since the king is unavailable to deliver your penance, I think we should gather around the citizens of Knothole and let them vote on your sentence. I do hope they vote for a good one."

"Look guys and girls, you've got it all wrong! I didn't attempt to kill Sally!" protested Sonic "Come on, you can believe me can't you?"

"I'm sorry Sonic but until we can prove your innocence, you're guilty until further notice." said Rotor sadly "We all witnessed what happened and we all clearly saw it was you, although we still can't believe it was you and some of us like Tails and Amy refuse to believe it was you."

"Whereas I am not surprised in the slightest." said Geoffrey coldly "I knew there was something wrong with you little boy and my instincts were correct indeed. Smiley, Fleming, let's take the traitor to his cell where he will reside until tomorrow. First thing in the morning, Knothole votes for his penance."

"No! You can't! I'm innocent! Don't do this to me!" begged Sonic "Let me go! I can prove I'm innocent! Honest I can!"

Geoffrey ignored him and he, Fleming and Smiley left the hut with Sonic being carried away by the two beavers that followed Geoffrey. The Freedom Fighters just watched as Sonic was taken away to spend the night in a cold, hard cell. Despite what he had done, they couldn't help but feel sorry for Sonic. For there was something in all of them that was telling them that maybe Sonic WAS innocent after all and once Sonic's sentence had been delivered, they could start investigating and see if they could find out what had really happened and if Sonic really did try to kill Sally at all...

* * *

_**Well this isn't good...Sonic's been framed but nobody believes it wasn't him! Will he prove his innocence? Or is Sonic well and truly imprisoned? Find out next time...**_


	2. Sonic the Fugitive

**Based on the original comic book story written by Ken Penders, Kent Taylor, Mike Gallagher and Karl Bollers for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog Issues 47-50 and published by Archie Comics.**  
**This re-write is intended for entertainment purposes and is also intended for those who feel the original Endgame story was lackluster and could have been better. No offence is intended for anyone who enjoyed the original story.**

Part 2: Sonic the Fugitive

The next day in Knothole dawned, dull and grey and pouring with rain. One would say that this is a fitting atmosphere for a dull occasion. And the reason this is a dull occasion was that the people of Knothole had gathered around the village square, many of them wearing raincoats or holding up umbrellas to keep themselves dry from the rain, to vote on the punishment of Sonic the Hedgehog. Princess Sally Acorn had been thrown off the building, supposedly, by Sonic himself and almost ended up dying until Tails caught her and interrupted her fall, giving her a much less fatal impact when she crashed down. As of now, Sally was lying in bed in a deep coma and was slowly but steadily resting and recuperating from the fall. The Freedom Fighters had witnessed the whole thing with their own eyes and, although they couldn't believe it, they were horrified by the whole incident. Tails the twin-tailed fox was torn over if he should believe his heart or his eyes whereas Amy Rose, Sonic's little pen pal and a citizen of Knothole after she was rescued by Sonic from Metal Sonic some time ago, whole-heartedly refused to believe this for she was more loyal to Sonic than anyone and was sure that he was innocent. Because of this, Amy was among the crowd of citizens and she was in the front row. Her eyes were streaming with tears that just ended up making her face wetter than it already was due to the rainfall. The crowd had formed in a circle and in the middle of the circle was a shackled up Sonic the Hedgehog, who was know wearing ankle shackles to go with the shackles on his wrists so he couldn't run away, and Geoffrey St. John. Geoffrey had his arms behind his back and he was addressing the crowd in a most prompt and upper-class manner. He was loyal to the king after all and being as King Max was still crystallized from his time in the void and still recovering in the hospital, he was filling in for him to deliver the verdicts.

"People of Knothole Village." announced Geoffrey "You have gathered around here to deliver the traitor of Mobius, Sonic the Hedgehog, his well-earned penance. He has been found guilty for the crime of attempted murder and treason and since our majesty the king can't be the one to give him his sentence, I am leaving it up to the people of Knothole Village to decide what his penance should be. So villagers? What do you think his penance should be? Execution? Or incarceration?"

"Or how about they pick neither because I didn't do it!" retorted Sonic "Honestly, why won't anybody believe me?!"

"Because witness statements prove that you did do it you blighter!" snarled Geoffrey "The very comrades of Sonic the Hedgehog witnessed what he did!" he suddenly yelled out, turning back to the crowd "As a matter of facts, if the Freedom Fighters wish, would they like to come up front and tell the crowd what happened during that sabotage mission in Robotropolis?"

Tails refused to move for he really didn't want to hurt Sonic any further by being against him. Rotor and Bunnie weren't really sure if they wanted to testimony against Sonic either since they were beginning to have doubts of their own two but Antoine was all too happy to do this since he had secret jealousy and disliking towards Sonic. Antoine stood forward, holding an umbrella that was coloured like the French flag high above his head to keep the rain off, and he spoke his piece to the crowd without a moment's hesitance.

"I am very happy to be testifying against Sonic Commander St. John." said Antoine proudly "For I, along with the others, clearly saw what happened out zhere. We were sitting on a building, waiting for our dear princess to give us le signal and zen suddenly, Sonic grabs her be le throat and zen throws her of le building! I was seeing it very clearly I was and Sonic cannot dare to say it wasn't him for it clearly was him doing it!"

With that said, Antoine strode back into the crowd with his nose in the air in an uppity manner. Sonic was gobsmacked to hear Antoine say this and he began to think about something. If he was inside the base at the time then how did he suddenly end up throwing Sally off the command center? Unless...Sonic's mind finally clicked and he realized that Dr. Robotnik and played everybody for saps. He had set him up for this and his friends had fallen for it!

"Guys, guys, don't listen to Antoine, he's got it all wrong!" yelped Sonic desperately "I was inside the base when that happened! I couldn't have possibly thrown Sally off the base if I was INSIDE it! I bet Robotnik made a copy of me and had that try to kill Sally!"

"You would use any excuse wouldn't you mate?" scoffed Geoffrey "Dr. Robotnik maybe a genius but not even he can make perfect doppelgangers of anyone."

"Yes he can." said Tails, putting his hand up "Dr. Robotnik makes "Automatons", robots that can perfectly duplicate Mobians. I was fooled by one myself. It pretended to be a girl named Fiona and I honestly thought it was real but it was actually a robot."

"Nice try kid, but me and Sally and her Substitute Freedom Fighters took care of them." noted Geoffrey "The blighter hasn't got anymore Automatons and likely won't try making them again. Why try the same scheme twice after all?"

Tails tried to come up with a rebuttal to that but he couldn't quite think of a way to refute Geoffrey's argument. He did have a legitimate point. Robotnik wasn't one to repeat his schemes; he often liked to try something different every time. So maybe the idea of an Automaton Sonic wasn't plausible after all. Tails puts his hands behind his back and said nothing more. Geoffrey sort of smirked triumphantly at him and then looked back at the crowd.

"So there you have it folks, an eye-witness statement that proves Sonic's guilt and the traitor's claims have no weight behind them." he announced "So...what do you think his punishment should be?

The citizens of Knothole all began to murmur amongst each other and what they believed Sonic deserved for carrying out such a heinous crime.

_If they vote for me to be executed then I really will go mental!_ muttered Sonic crossly in his thoughts.

After a minute of silent converse, the crowd all looked at Geoffrey and they all-except the Freedom Fighters-said aloud:

"Incarceration...at Devil's Gulag."

Geoffrey seemed to be satisfied with that sentence for Sonic whereas Sonic looked horrified. Devil's Gulag was a terrifying prison located atop a tall spire surrounded by a ring of active volcanoes. The ocean waters surrounding the prison were boiling too, at a temperature of 220 degrees Fahrenheit, which is probably why the prison was named as such. It was used by the Kingdom of Acorn to keep exceptionally dangerous convicts there and now Sonic was going to be incarcerated there. The prison was one of Sonic's childhood nightmares. His dad had often told him stories on how criminals and war prisoners were sent to the Devil's Gulag and now he was going to be sent there really made him worry. Geoffrey shot Sonic a particularly nasty looking glare.

"Yer lucky the crowd was so lenient on you." he said coldly "Had it been up to me, I would have voted execution."

"Yeah, that would be a great idea." muttered Sonic "Then once Robotnik attacks you all, I won't be able to help you because I'm dead. Yeah, that's a real good idea isn't it Geoffrey?"

Geoffrey decided to ignore Sonic's retort. He instead looked back at the crowd and addressed them all again.

"You have voted for incarceration." said Geoffrey "And I will grant you that wish. I shall now escort Sonic to the airport where he will be taken aboard a plane and be flown off to Devil's Gulag where he shall spend the rest of his life, hopefully regretting what he's done."

"I'm not regretting anything because I didn't try and kill Sally!" snapped Sonic "And besides, you're all making a big mistake locking me away! If Robotnik attacks, I won't be there to save you all!"

"We will defeat Robotnik without you traitor!" snapped Geoffrey "Some of us have functioned quite well without you, me and Sally included, so your loss won't be enough to bring us down."

Sonic just scowled at Geoffrey, unable to believe the skunk dared to say that to him. He was Mobius' only hope for Freedom and everybody knew it! How could he dare say that him being incarcerated won't be enough to bring the team down?! If he wasn't in shackles, he would be all too happy to whale on Geoffrey right now and give him a busted nose. As is, he couldn't do anything about it and he had to grit his teeth and bear Geoffrey's horrible attitude. Geoffrey grabbed Sonic by the arm and started to take him away.

"Take on last look at the traitor as I walk him away from here." said Geoffrey coldly "This will hopefully be the last we'll see of him."

The crowd all watched as Sonic was roughly taken away by Geoffrey and led off to an airport where Sonic would board a flight to Devil's Gulag and be taken off to the deadly prison. He was going to spend his life in there now and until his innocence could be proven, he would never walk free again. The Freedom Fighters watched with pitying glances as Sonic was taken away. Poor Amy was about to lose her mind with heartbreak as her precious Sonic was being led off to the airport. Even though justice was being served, the Freedom Fighters couldn't really get all happy about it. In fact, some of them were beginning to wonder if Sonic truly was innocent and that he had been framed after all given his testimony and theory on what really happened. Although Geoffrey had scoffed it off, Tails and Rotor began to wonder if Robotnik really was trying the same scheme twice.

Unbeknownst to anyone though, there was someone hiding out in Knothole and that somebody was somebody who was way out of his pack. Drago Wolf. He had witnessed the whole sentencing event from inside some thickly-grown bushes that masked his presence well and he had a communications device in his hand. He turned it on and spoke into it.

"Yo Robotnik, this is your agent Drago Wolf. I've got an important message for you..."

* * *

Later that day, Geoffrey and Sonic had arrived at the airport and Geoffrey handed Sonic over to a pair of guards who worked for the Kingdom of Acorn and were also skilled pilots.

"You are in charge of escorting this filthy traitor to Devil's Gulag." said Geoffrey "Make sure he doesn't try to get away."

"Yes Commander St. John." said one of the guards, taking Sonic firmly by the arm.

Sonic just gave Geoffrey a seething look of hatred as the guards took him onboard a large plane with a silver paintjob, a great wingspan and jet engines on the wings. The moment the guards got Sonic onboard the plane, the docking door closed up, preventing anyone from getting in or out of the plane and Sonic was taken to his seat. Sonic was placed on the third seat row from the cockpit and on the left side of the plane. Once Sonic was seated, the guards walked off into the cockpit and they took their seats. They started the plane up and the plane started taxing to the runway. Geoffrey St. John just stayed where he was and watched as the plane started preparing for take-off, his face still contorting with loathing. The plane lined up on the runway and then it started to speed off down it. It picked up speed until it finally raised its nose up and started to ascend from the ground and up into the sky with a roar of its mighty engines. The plane took off into the sky and left Knothole behind. Its destination: Devil's Gulag. It would drop Sonic off there and then it would return to the airport with no Sonic onboard. As Geoffrey watched the plane take off with Sonic onboard, his expression relaxed a little and he sighed to himself.

"It's done my love. The traitor's being taken away and he will never get the chance to finish you off." he said, thinking about Sally Acorn right now "You can rest easy now, knowing your attempted killer is going to spend the rest of his life behind bars for what he's done to you. I hope you come out of your coma soon so I can tell you that myself."

With that said, Geoffrey turned around and he headed off back into the village, pleased that the job was done and that justice had served its course. He just hoped that Sally would wake up soon so she could have the delight of knowing that justice had been served and Sonic was incarcerated for trying to murder her...

* * *

The atmosphere back in Knothole was bleaker than ever for the rain was getting harder, the sky was greyer than before and thunder was beginning to clap loudly, booming around the village ominously as it roared after the lightning strikes that preceded it. But nobody had to worry about the weather for everybody had gone back into their lovely, warm, rustic old homes to get on with their daily lives and try to move on from this morning's events. But the Freedom Fighters sadly, were having a bit of a harder time getting over the whole thing. They were still unable to believe that what had happened truly did happen and little Amy was still in denial and wailing her heart out over the whole thing. Uncle Chuck, who was still roboticized, had come over to lighten up the atmosphere but he just ended up sharing everybody's grief and he began to commiserate for Sonic since he firmly believed that his nephew would never do such a thing, try and kill the Princess of Mobotropolis like this. Antoine, Bunnie and Uncle Chuck were all sitting in chairs and talking to one another with Amy sitting on the carpet and joining in with them. Tails was with Rosie and the two were just standing by and offering input into the discussion. Rotor was just standing by the window and watching the rain pitter-patter on the windows and drip down into the panes, looking visibly melancholy about everything.

"So Uncle Chuck, ya'll believe Sonic could have tried to murder Sally-girl?" asked Bunnie.

"I certainly do not Miss Rabbot." said Uncle Chuck in a polite but firm tone of voice "I've known my nephew for years and I know deep in my heart that he would never murder an innocent Mobian at all, especially Sally Acorn since the two have a thing for each other."

"It is nice zat you are tinking out for Sonic Uncle Chuck but I am afraid that Sonic is le guilty." said Antoine, feeling sorry for Uncle Chuck since he understood how much Sonic meant to him "We all saw what he did, zhere is nothing that proves that he did not commit le crime."

"I know Antoine but a senile old man like me doesn't give up hope that easily." said Uncle Chuck grimly "No matter what anybody says, I still believe my nephew didn't do it."

"So do I!" yelled Amy in a shrill voice "I believe that Sonic's no villain! He's innocent and I know he is! Sonic would never attempt something like that!"

"Nice to see you still have faith in my nephew." said Uncle Chuck with a smile "And anyways, I believe my nephew's testimony I do. Part of the plan, which I helped you all put together, was that Sonic would find a way into the base along with Sally. Maybe Sonic found a way in and got inside but Sally didn't know he had and then while he was in there, something that looked like Sonic came out and attempted to do Sally in."

The Freedom Fighters all mused to each other, beginning to wonder if Uncle Chuck might be right.

"I believe Sonic's theory in that maybe a duplicate of him did it." said Tails "Dr. Robotnik is known for his deceptions after all. Remember when he made us think Sonic defied the council's orders and got himself roboticized? Turned out we were tricked then so I think this is another trick that Robotnik's pulled out on us. I know Geoffrey thinks Robotnik won't do the same thing twice but for all we know, maybe he did bring back the Automatons for this and used an Automaton Sonic to frame him."

"Well Tails, that is a very logical conclusion." said Uncle Chuck brightly "But we'll have to prove that first. We can't just say that and Sonic's name will be cleared, we need evidence first."

"I know." said Tails dully "We'll have to go over to Robotropolis and find the Auto-Sonic, if there is one, and then bring him back to Knothole so we can prove to everybody that Sonic was set-up by it. Heck, we could probably even get the Automaton to tell everybody for us, that will definitely clear Sonic's name."

"That all sounds like a good idea sugah." said Bunnie agreeably "So when do ya'll think we should go off to Robotropolis and start searchin' for the Automaton Sonic?"

"The moment Sonic arrives at Devil's Gulag." decided Uncle Chuck "Once we get the word that he's there, we'll get going and start searching for proof of Sonic's evidence. I sure hope that our theories are correct otherwise my nephew really is guilty."

The Freedom Fighters all nodded. It seemed that a bit of hope was coming back to them for they were beginning to believe Sonic truly was innocent. Tails could hardly wait for the mission in Robotropolis to begin for he was sure his best friend was innocent and he was eager to bring home some evidence to prove Sonic's innocence...

* * *

Meanwhile, the plane that was taking Sonic to Devil's Gulag was now flying over a stretch of land and heading off towards the ocean, which was several miles away still. The rain was still coming down hard and lightening continued to flash, claps of thunder booming after them as they flashed. Sonic was spending this entire trip sitting in his seat with his head rested on his hand and his elbow rested on his thigh, murmuring to himself and swimming in his thoughts for many of them were coming to his head.

_I can't believe that nobody believes that I didn't try to kill Sally._ Sonic moaned in his thoughts. _Why ever would I wanna kill the woman I love? Didn't they stop to think about that for a minute? Probably not since me and Sally haven't officially announced our love for each other yet but anyway, I would never try and kill my friends...EVER! Heck, I don't even believe in killing unless it's necessary! Why didn't they take that in the equation?_

He paused for a moment as he stared out the window to see if he could tell where the plane was flying over right now. It was still over the country he lived in right now but sooner or later, he would be over the ocean and off to Devil's Gulag. Sonic sighed to himself as he watched the rain splatter against the window.

_I know, I just KNOW that Robotnik set me up somehow!_ declared Sonic in his mind _While I was inside the command center, trying to arrest him and put an end to his tyranny for good, he must have sent some kind of robot duplicate of me out there to try and kill Sally and make everybody think that was me doing it. Cause after all, I can't be in two places at once, even if I am supersonic, and even if I was up there with Sal, I would NOT be trying to throw her off a building! I do hope my friends are taking in what I've said and are planning on finding evidence to clear my name. I'm sure they're starting to believe I'm innocent and are planning on proving it at some point..._

As is right now, all Sonic could do was hope that was going to happen since his friends didn't seem to be on his side and he was now on the way to prison. If his friends could clear his name though, he'd be getting out of Devil's Gulag as quickly as he was flown off there and that's exactly what he wanted to happen since Sonic was a free spirit and he did not want to be locked up in a prison cell, he hated being locked up after all. It makes him feel anxious and trapped and that he can't run around as freely as he always does. If he was to spend the rest of his life in Devil's Gulag then chances are, he would be going mental and may even start developing claustrophobia. So Sonic was really hoping his friends would have enough faith in him to try and prove him innocent so they could get him out of the prison and he wouldn't have to suffer there. As for the pilots of the plane, they were pretty pleased at the fact they were having an easy flight and everything was going swell for the moment. They'd be at the Devil's Gulag and back home to Knothole in no time at the rate they were going.

"I've gotta say, I'm enjoying this flight." said one pilot "It's pretty relaxing at the moment and Sonic's not trying to get away."

"I don't think even Sonic will be foolish enough to try and escape from a moving plane." said the other pilot "He's not that foolish. If he tries to escape, he's got a VERY long fall down to the ground down below. Trying to escape from here is pretty much suicide."

"Yeah, I get ya." said the first pilot "Also, I think Sonic knows better than to try and escape custody. If he really is innocent like he claims he is, he won't try and escape."

"Yeah, that would just seal it for us that he's guilty." agreed the second pilot "Although the witness statements pretty much sealed it for us that he's guilty anyway..."

"Hold on pal, we've got a problem!" yelped the first pilot, pointing ahead of him with his eyes wide and full of fright "There's something coming this way!"

"Say what?!" cried the second pilot, looking in the first pilot's direction.

The two pilots stared ahead of themselves and they could see something that they were not expecting to see whatsoever. A fleet of SWAT-bots in hover-pods were flying towards them and they seemed to have hostile intentions for they had their weapons deployed and were coming towards the plane and fast! Drago Wolf had contacted Dr. Robotnik and had informed him that Sonic was being flown off to Devil's Gulag at this moment and Dr. Robotnik had the brilliant idea of shooting down the plane and killing Sonic. He knew that the ruse he'd set Sonic up for wouldn't last forever and the Freedom Fighters would eventually wise up and realize Sonic was innocent and have him freed from prison so in order for his ultimate plan to work and to make sure that Sonic couldn't get in the way of it, Robotnik ordered a fleet of SWAT-bots to shoot down the plane and hopefully kill Sonic so that the blue hedgehog will NEVER be a problem for him again. The SWAT-bots all flew around the sides of the plane and they aimed their weapons at the fuselage and wings.

"Fire at will!" yelled one SWAT-bot "Dr. Robotnik has ordered us to bring down this plane. Shoot it down and kill Sonic the Hedgehog!"

The SWAT-bots all obeyed and they began shooting at the plane. The pilots docked the plane to the left a little and then they raised up one of its wings by turning the plane to the other side. The wing of the plane smacked a few SWAT-bots and knocked them down out of the sky. They then lowered the plane's wing in an attempt to smack down some more SWAT-bots but the SWAT-bots wisely flew out of the way and dodged the wing. They began to shoot at the plane more and more furiously to make sure that they start damaging it. Their laser shots began to tear through the wing of the plane and the shots eventually tore the wing to pieces and caused it to come clean off! The plane docked sharply to the left for its right wing had been blown off and it began to spiral down dangerously to the ground below. The SWAT-bots all followed the crippled plane down to make sure that the inevitable crash ends up being fatal. The pilots all screamed in terror as the plane began to fall down to the ground, spinning most furiously as it did so. Sonic could feel himself being thrown around as the plane spiralled to the ground. The pilot's fought on the plane's controls and tried to bring it back up again. They managed to succeed and the plane rose up just enough for the plane to crash land sharply on the ground belly-first. The one-winged plane skidded to a violent halt and it lay in a huge mound of dirt as one of its engines burst into flames and was torn off by the skidding plane. The SWAT-bots all landed down on the ground and they cautiously stepped out of their hover-pods. They all wandered towards the wreckage of the plane and observed it. The fuselage had many dents and holes in it and it only had one wing left, which was now missing an engine. They had certainly done a decent amount of damage to the plane and they were quite pleased with their handiwork.

"Analysis: The plane's crash was quite violent and heavy. Conclusion: Sonic the Hedgehog didn't survive the crash." droned one SWAT-bot as it studied the wreckage.

"Negative: We must see a body first." noted another SWAT-bot "We cannot prove Sonic is dead unless we see his body."

"Very well: We will survey the wreckage inside and see if Sonic the Hedgehog is dead." droned the first SWAT-bot "SWAT-bots, find Sonic's body."

With that said, the SWAT-bots did as they were told and they all marched towards the wreckage of the plane. One SWAT-bot grabbed the door of the plane and ripped it clean off its hinges. It threw the door over its shoulder and it stepped inside, analyzing the scenery inside and taking note of what was inside. It saw the two pilots, lying unconscious in their seats in the cockpit, and it scanned them to see what their life-signals suggested.

"The pilots of this aircraft are alive, just unconscious." droned the SWAT-bot "Does that mean that Sonic the Hedgehog is alive too?"

"You bet it does butt-bot!" yelled Sonic, whizzing towards the SWAT-bot and kicking it hard in the chest.

The SWAT-bot was sent flying backwards out of the plane and it came down with a heavy clunk outside the plane. Sonic had survived the crash and the resulting impact ended up snapping the chain linking his shackles together so he was now fully capable of running again, not a good thing for the SWAT-bots at all. The SWAT-bots were all horrified to see this and they immediately began opening fire on the wreckage of the plane. Sonic came rocketing out of the plane wreckage and he ran past all of the attacking SWAT-bots, knocking them all off of their feet and sending them crashing down on their backs. Sonic jumped on top of one SWAT bot's chest and he glared at it.

"While I appreciate you bringing this plane down and unintentionally freeing me so I can prove my innocence, I'm not pleased at the fact you did this in the first place!" yelled Sonic threateningly "I bet you did it to try and kill me didn't you? If so then you just made a big mistake swat-head!"

With that said, Sonic jumped up and then stomped down on the SWAT-bot's chest, leaving a nasty dent in it with his feet as he did so. The SWAT-bot groaned in pain and Sonic then prepared to stomp on its head and kill it. But the other SWAT-bots intervened by shooting at Sonic. Sonic dodged the shooting SWAT-bots by running off but he did raise his hands and let the SWAT-bots shoot the broken shackles off of his wrists. He did the same with his ankles and the SWAT-bots shot the broken shackles clean off of them too so Sonic now had nothing on his wrists or his ankles much to his relief. They were hurting his wrists and ankles anyway so to get the shackles off instantly made Sonic feel much better. Sonic turned around sharply and he curled up into a blue spiky ball. He spin-dashed towards one SWAT-bot and destroyed it instantly, ploughing directly through its torso as he hit it. The SWAT-bot was brought down onto its back and it lay there with circuitry sparking in it and its parts littering the ground around it. The other SWAT-bots aimed their weapons at Sonic and they shot furiously at him. Sonic rushed towards one SWAT-bot and kicked it in the head. The kicked SWAT-bot fell over onto its back and it accidentally shot another SWAT-bot as it fell down. The shot made the stricken SWAT-bot double over in pain and wail a robotical wail of pain. Sonic ran over to the SWAT-bot that had accidentally been shot and he destroyed it with a single spin-dash. The SWAT-bot he had kicked earlier picked itself up and it blasted at Sonic but Sonic effortlessly dodged the blast and he spin-dashed that one to pieces. Two SWAT-bots began firing at Sonic in unison and they almost managed to hit him but Sonic's reflexes were too fast and he ended up dodging the shots before they could hit him. Sonic ran to the two SWAT-bots and he jumped up between them. He did the splits and kicked them both down onto their sides as he sailed between their heads. The two SWAT-bots were thrown down instantly and Sonic killed one of them by stomping on its head. That stomp smashed its head instantly due to how hard Sonic did it. The second SWAT-bot threw a punch at Sonic but Sonic grabbed its arm and threw it over onto its back. He then stomped on its head and destroyed it instantly, rendering the SWAT-bot deceased. There were only three SWAT-bots left and they all began to desperately shoot at Sonic, eager to kill him in the name of Dr. Robotnik. Sonic dodged all of their shots effortlessly and he finished the trio off with a spin-dash each. He ploughed through them all like a plough through snow and he destroyed them, leaving their remains scattered all over the ground as they were destroyed by Sonic. Sonic gasped and panted for breath as he finished off the last SWAT-bots and he wiped his forehead.

"Phew...that's all of them." said Sonic "Now then, I'd better find a place of sanctuary before anymore SWAT-bots come or anyone realizes that I'm free and they start looking for me."

Sonic revved up his feet and he ran off as fast as he could. Unbeknownst to him, there was one SWAT-bot that he had failed to destroy and that was the one he'd stomped on and dented its chest earlier. The SWAT-bot weakly picked itself up and it watched as Sonic was running away. It touched the side of its head and activated its com link.

"SWAT-bot...khsk...Unit 8643 reporting...khshk...requesting for back-up...back-up has been destroyed...khsshk...by Sonic the Hedgehog...need more units...to destroy hedgehog...khsshk."

This was not good for Sonic at all. The SWAT-bot was calling for reinforcements and once they arrived, they would start hunting for him and once they caught him, they would eliminate him just as Dr. Robotnik ordered them to and prevent him from being a problem for Dr. Robotnik as his master plan was coming along. To make sure that the back-up would arrive at the right place, the SWAT-bot staggered onto a hover-pod and started slowly following Sonic as he ran off to find a place of sanctuary. Once Sonic stopped, the SWAT-bot would report his location to his requested reinforcements and then they would have him...

* * *

As for Sonic, he hadn't been running for long and already he had managed to find a cave that would provide good shelter for him from the pouring rain and it would be a good place for him to hide in from SWAT-bots and anyone who might be hunting him down. The cave was huge and looked like it went on for a while given how dark it was inside. Sonic ran into the cave and went inside it for a bit until he went as far in as he thought he needed to go and then he settled down and leaned against the rocky wall of the cave. He edged down onto his bottom and lay against the wall, sighing to himself and relaxing a little as he prepared to have a little rest. He was worn out after all that and he needed to rest himself before doing anything else.

"So...I've been framed for the attempted murder of Sally Acorn and now SWAT-bots are after me." he noted to himself "I really do bet that Robotnik did all this to get me outta the way so he can commence with whatever evil plan he's concocting next and now to make double sure I can't stop him, he's sending SWAT-bots to try and kill me. That old tyrant is going too far now! Nobody tries to kill my beloved princess and blames it on me and then tries to kill me! Once I'm all rested up, I'm going to Robotropolis and I'm gonna kick his butt so hard that it'll have a permanent imprint of my shoe on it!"

The very thought of Robotnik getting his butt kicked quite literally by Sonic was pleasing to the hedgehog.

"Then once I've beaten Robotnik, I'm going back to bring him back to Knothole and make him tell everybody that he was behind all this and I really am innocent after all." he declared "Then HE'LL be shipped off to Devil's Gulag and he'll hopefully rot in there like he deserves to! But before I do all that...yawn...I need to rest myself. I'm pooped after that work out and all the stress I'm having to deal with now. I'll just nap in here and then I can clear my name and defeat Robotnik once and...for...all..."

Sonic's voice trailed off for sleep had finally overcome him and he drifted off into a peaceful nap. Sonic lay against the wall and started to snore away peacefully as he napped away. This nap was just the thing he needed to recharge and get back in the action and once he was awake, it would be time for some payback. But it seemed that there might be a little delay in all of that for the surviving SWAT-bot had followed Sonic secretly to the cave and it stood at the entrance, waiting for its back up to arrive. It had given its reinforcements its coordinates and was waiting for them to arrive. Sonic was in for a rude awakening once the SWAT-bot's reinforcements arrived and they began storming the cave, ready to kill him and bring his corpse back to Dr. Robotnik...

* * *

Back over in Knothole, the Freedom Fighters had called the Wolf Pack over to discuss their deductions and theories to them and exposit on the plan they had for once Sonic arrived at Devil's Gulag. Lupe and her pack had been all too happy to come over for this and they all gathered around into Rosie's hut. There was only one wolf missing though and that was Drago Wolf. Lupe wasn't pleased at the fact Drago had gone missing again but she decided to not bother with him. If Drago wasn't interested in this then so be it, he'd just have to miss out on this one. The Freedom Fighters and the wolves were all sitting around and talking to each other.

"So you think that Dr. Robotnik might have made a robot duplicate of Sonic the Hedgehog to frame him for the attempted murder of the princess?" asked Lupe.

"I do indeed." said Tails "That's just up Robotnik's street that is, to make duplicates and frame people for crimes they didn't commit. After learning that Sonic had been framed for going against the council's orders and getting himself roboticized, I've learnt that not everything's as it seems at times."

"Same here." said Uncle Chuck "So we've decided that we're going to sneak over into Robotropolis and find some evidence that Sonic's innocent. We're going to see if we can find an Automaton Sonic and if we can, we'll bring it back to Knothole and make it confess to everybody."

"That sounds like a very good plan." said Lupe "And given how I have faith in Sonic and I am a dear friend of his, I am all too happy to take part in this mission."

"I am too." said another wolf in the pack "Anything to avenge Sally's near-death and to clear Sonic's name."

"I'm glad you're all up for this." said Tails happily "Shows we're not the only ones who have at least some faith for Sonic left in us."

"Indeed." said Rotor "We're waiting until Sonic arrives at Devil's Gulag first before we carry out the plan though. And that might still be a while yet since the prison is a long way away from Knothole."

"I see." said Lupe "I look forward to when we carry out this plan."

"I don't think ANYBODY will be carrying out ANY plans whatsoever chief!" came a gruff voice that startled everybody.

Everybody jumped up onto their feet and they all stared in surprise at who said that. It was Drago Wolf, standing at the doorway with a big toothy grin on his face. He had his arms folded and his eyes were narrowed into an evil stare.

"Drago? You've decided to come at last I presume?" said a rather surprised Lupe.

"I have chief, and I bring news for you all." crooned Drago darkly "Knothole, as of today, is under new management..."

He then stepped into the hut and made way as somebody else stepped inside the hut. And that somebody was the one person the Freedom Fighters would never have expected to see in Knothole in a million years. It was none other than Dr. Robotnik! He strode pride fully into the hut with his fists on his wide, flabby hips and a devil's smile painted on his face that made him look very demonic and ominous. He wasn't alone though for behind him were fleets of SWAT-bots and Auto-Sonic. Auto-Sonic stepped into the hut with Robotnik and the Freedom Fighters all gasped in horror at the mere sight of him.

"Greetings people of Knothole." purred Robotnik darkly "Welcome to a new age...the age of Dr. Robotnik! Knothole is mine and your precious Sonic is incapable of saving you from me now..."

What followed that ominous speech was a loud, haunting, evil cackle that seemed to echo all around the room and rumble in everybody's ears, making them feel very nervous and making them tremble in fear as he cackled. Robotnik had found Knothole at last somehow and now he was here, he was going to expand his reign to it...

* * *

_**Sonic, on the run! Knothole, invaded! Dr. Robotnik, looking victorious! How will our heroes get out of this one...?**_


	3. Relentless Pursuit

**Based on the original comic book story written by Ken Penders, Kent Taylor, Mike Gallagher and Karl Bollers for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog Issues 47-50 and published by Archie Comics.**  
**This re-write is intended for entertainment purposes and is also intended for those who feel the original Endgame story was lackluster and could have been better. No offence is intended for anyone who enjoyed the original story.**

Part 3: Relentless Pursuit

What had been once massive shock to the Freedom Fighters had just been multiplied tenfold. For just yesterday, Sonic the Hedgehog had seemingly gone rogue and attempted to murder Princess Sally Acorn only for that attempt to be somewhat foiled by Tails and right now, the Freedom Fighter's greatest enemy, Dr. Julian Ivo Robotnik, was standing in the doorway of the hut the Freedom Fighters and the Wolf Pack were gathered in and he wasn't alone for this invasion for he had brought fleets and fleets of SWAT-bots with him and he had, quite possibly, one of his greatest weapons he had ever built, an Automaton Sonic. Everybody was petrified with fear to see Robotnik standing before them all with his face twisted into a smile that could please a demon. How on Mobius did Robotnik manage to find Knothole? He didn't know where Knothole was so how did he manage to find it? It seemed that they would soon find the answer for Dr. Robotnik was about ready to exposit to everybody.

"I bet this comes as a bit of a surprise doesn't it Freedom Fighters?" crooned Robotnik darkly "I, Dr. Julian Ivo Robotnik, am now standing before you in your very place of dwelling and am ready to take over this village."

"It comes off as more than _a bit_ of a surprise Robotnik!" retorted Rotor Walrus "How the heck did you manage to find us?!"

"I didn't manage to find you at all, somebody was more than willing to relinquish that kind of information to me." crowed Robotnik "And he is standing right here on my right hand side now."

He motioned over to Drago Wolf who was stand by the doorway on Robotnik's right hand side (since the Freedom Fighters and Wolf Pack are facing Robotnik, he's to their left hand side. Understand?). Drago just stood there with a grim expression on his face as if he wasn't all that happy about what was going on now. Everybody stared at Drago in astonishment, Lupe looking the most visibly horrified at all of this given how he was a member of her own pack.

"Drago…you told Robotnik…where Knothole is?!" gasped Lupe, unable to believe that one of her own pack members was a traitor to them all "Does that mean…?"

"Yes chief, it means I'm working for Robotnik now." said Drago with a scowl on his face.

"That explains why you kept wondering off…mused Lupe as she thought back to the days he kept disappearing without official leave.

"You traitor…how could you do this to us?!" demanded Tails in a rather fierce tone of voice, a tone of voice that was seldom used by the young fox cub.

"Yeah, how could ya'll sell us out like that ya big bad wolf?!" yelled Bunnie Rabbot, pointing an accusing finger at the treacherous wolf that stood beside Robotnik.

Drago's face fell and he looked back at everybody guiltily. It seemed he had regrets over doing all of this.

"I had no choice to betray you all!" blustered Drago, throwing his arms out to the side in disdain "Sometime ago, Dr. Robotnik captured me and threatened to roboticize me! I begged for him to spare me and he agreed on the condition that I reveal the location of Knothole and participate in the plot to frame Sonic and get him out of the picture! I'd never have done this intentionally!"

That statement made the Freedom Fighters and Wolf Pack look at each other in wonder. Drago had been blackmailed into doing this? How terrible! Lupe's expression quickly shifted from shock to sympathy.

"Oh dear…" she said pityingly "Why didn't you tell us any of this Drago? We could have helped you."

"It wouldn't have done any good." sighed Drago "Robotnik stuck a small bomb on my back…" he paused for a moment as he turned around and lifted up his shirt, revealing a small black sphere that seemed to be fixed to his back. He lowered his shirt and turned back around to face everybody.

"…that bomb has an attached speaker to it so Robotnik could hear my every word and if I dared to double-cross him, he'd set the bomb off and blow me to pieces!" exclaimed Drago "And the bomb's programmed to go off if any attempt to remove it is taken so I HAD to do as he pleased or be blown up!"

"Exactly." purred Robotnik in a slithering voice "So as you can see, I got this poor simpering fool to swear fealty to me and thanks to him, I've found Knothole and I may begin my takeover. And since Drago has served his purpose, he can join you all in annihilation!"

Just the mere mention of the word "annihilation" made the Mobians shudder in worry. What did Robotnik mean by "annihilation"? Was he just going to carpet bomb the village or something? Seemed a bit extreme for Dr. Robotnik to do something like that but then again, he is insane in the brain so it was totally in his character to do something that crazy. As for Drago, he looked like somebody had just stabbed him in the gut with a sword.

"WHAT?!" shrieked Drago in horror "Robotnik, you promised me freedom once I did what you told me! Why am I joining the others in annihilation?!"

"Drago you poor, miserable mutt, I never keep my promises…I BREAK them!" cackled Robotnik "Why ever would I set an agent of mine free once he's served his purpose? That'll give the agent a chance to double-cross me and I do not give people such opportunities. SWAT-bots!" he barked to the SWAT-bot fleet outside the hut "Take this no longer desired agent away!"

A pair of SWAT-bots strode into the hut and they both grabbed Drago by his arms. They dragged the horrified wolf out of the hut and out into the village centre. Drago squirmed and struggled as he was dragged away, unable to believe that Robotnik had lied to him about being set free once he had done what he had been blackmailed into doing. Once Drago was dragged out of the hut, Robotnik faced the Freedom Fighters and he folded his arms. His face was narrowed down into an evil glare that could make even the most courageous of people feel faint.

"As for you Freedom Fighters, it's time I gave you all your punishment for daring to defy my laws and orders and try to overthrow me." he crooned menacingly "And what better punishment could I give out…then having you get curb-stomped by my marvellous Automaton copy of the prodigious Sonic the Hedgehog?" he added, patting Auto-Sonic on the head as if he was really pleased with him.

Auto-Sonic stepped forward and clenched his fists. He was about ready to start beating up all the Freedom Fighters. Auto-Sonic wore Sonic's trademark snarky grin on his face.

"Ready to do it to it Freedom Fighters?" he sneered in a perfect rendition of Sonic's voice and personality.

The Freedom Fighters all gasped at Auto-Sonic. Such a perfect copy of the real thing it was! All the way down to his personality, it was a perfect copy! This just proved that the theory Uncle Chuck and Tails started coming up with was correct! At least they wouldn't have to go to Robotropolis and find proof of a fake Sonic since the real thing was standing before them right now. Still, it was quite scary to see such a perfect Sonic copy standing before them and getting ready to unleash all hell on them all.

"Zut Alors! It is an Automaton Sonic?!" shrieked Antoine, his trademark blonde hair just about jumping off of his head in alarm.

"So my theory WAS correct!" exclaimed Tails "Dr. Robotnik made an Automaton Sonic to frame the real Sonic for the attempted murder of Aunt Sally!"

"And to think we all thought even for a minute that the real Sonic did it!" cried Rotor in disbelief "I can't believe we all fell for that! I feel like such a dunce for believing for a second that Sonic would intentionally try to kill Sally!"

"You sick twisted maniac…you framed my nephew just so you could get him out of the way didn't you?!" snarled Uncle Chuck furiously "You did all this to get Sonic out of the way so he can't stop you from taking over Knothole! And to think you succeeded too since he's being shipped off to Devil's Gulag as we speak!"

"Well what can you expect? I am evil after all." sneered Dr. Robotnik in a rather conceited manner "Yes Freedom Fighters, I framed Sonic for the attempted murder of your precious princess just to get him incarcerated and prevent him from foiling my latest and greatest scheme ever! I couldn't have done all of this without my agent, Drago Wolf, though since he told me what your plan was and I set everything up for the framing of Sonic. And it all worked perfectly…ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha…"

His dark, evil laughter rumbled around the room and made everybody feel a chill down their spines.

"And I don't think Sonic will even make it to Devil's Gulag since I sent a fleet of SWAT-bots to shoot down the plane escorting him there." crowed Robotnik, his evil grin so wide now that it practically popped out of the sides of his face "Thanks to Drago Wolf, I knew about that plane and it was taking Sonic to Devil's Gulag so I sent the SWAT-bots to shoot it down. And I'm willing to bet that they've shot it down right about now and Sonic is now lying dead in the wreckage of the plane. Your magnanimous hero won't be around to save you now…"

What followed that dark speech was a loud, gloating cackle that echoed around the hut like a haunting cackle from an evil ghost that stalks the haunted hallways. That made everybody feel like they were just about ready to drop dead in shock as they began to get nasty images of the plane escorting Sonic to Devil's Gulag lying wrecked on the ground somewhere and blazing away with Sonic's dead body inside. If Dr. Robotnik's guess was right then Sonic is dead and their once good friend was no more. The Freedom Fighters all decided to attack Robotnik and save Knothole in Sonic's name. Rotor whipped out the power-drill that became his giant bazooka, the Party-Hearty Quadra Sonic Rock n' Roller, and he aimed it at Robotnik.

"You monster! You're going down!" yelled Rotor, firing a shot at Robotnik.

Robotnik however held up his roboticized arm and activated an energy shield that defended him from the blast. After he'd done that, he pointed a robotic finger at Rotor's weapon and he fired a laser beam from it. The shot hit Rotor's bazooka and destroyed it instantly, blowing Rotor off of his feet and reducing his weapon to scrap. Rotor just stared at the remains of his amazing weapon in disbelief. Robotnik smirked at Rotor triumphantly.

"Your technology is most impressive your rotund little walrus…but ultimately inferior to my genius intellect." he crowed "Now I think it's time I let Auto-Sonic have some fun with you all as I prepare my Ultimate Annihilator. Auto-Sonic, crush them!" he bellowed.

After giving that order, Robotnik ran out of the hut since the last thing he wants is to be in the middle of a Sonic robot clone curb-stomping all of Sonic's friends and rendering them incapable of defeating him and foiling his plan. Auto-Sonic curled up into a spiky ball and he spin-dashed towards the Freedom Fighters. The Freedom Fighters all dodged as the Automaton copy of Sonic hurled towards them but Auto-Sonic just uncurled from his spin-dash, bounced off the wall feet first and spin-dashed back towards them…

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Half an hour had passed since the plane crash and Sonic was resting away quite peacefully in the cave he had run into for cover. The past day had been quite stressful for him. He'd been accused of trying to murder the woman he loved and nobody believed that he didn't do it and now the plane escorting him to Devil's Gulag had been shot down and he was on the run from SWAT-bots. He thought he'd destroyed them all but one survived and had called for back-up while following Sonic to the cave so Sonic was soon going to have more SWAT-bots to deal with but as of now, he didn't know that. Sonic was so deep in sleep that right now he was beginning to dream. Unfortunately though, this dream wasn't a very pleasant dream. In fact, it was more like a nightmare. Sonic tossed and turned in his sleep and he mumbled under his breath as he began to dream away.

"No…must…save…Sally…urm…huh…uh…um…Sally…please…don't…um…" mumbled Sonic rather mindlessly as the nightmare continued to torment his brain and distress him while he was sleeping.

_In this nightmare right now, Sonic was running around the pinnacle of the command center in Robotropolis and he could hear the sounds of Sally Acorn crying for help. Desperate to save his girlfriend, he ran on and on until he eventually found her being held over the edge of the building by what appeared to be himself. Sally was squirming furiously in the grasp of the other Sonic, fighting to get free and prevent herself from being thrown over the building. She looked over the other Sonic's shoulder and instantly guessed that the Sonic she had spotted over his shoulder was the real Sonic._

_"Sonic! Please! Help me!" begged Sally as she fought in the grasp of the other Sonic._

_"Hang on Sal! I'm coming!" cried Sonic, running over to Sally and the other Sonic._

_The other Sonic turned around and glowered at the real Sonic. His eyes seemed to be like cold, steel optics watching his every move emotionlessly and his sights were so fixed on the real Sonic that he almost appeared to be scanning and monitoring him as the real Sonic ran towards him._

_"Let her go you impostor!" ordered Sonic "Nobody hurts my girl and threatens her life like this!"_

_"You want her so badly Sonic?" sneered the other Sonic "Then try and catch her!"_

_With that said, the other Sonic threw Sally off the building, her screams echoing around Robotropolis as she began to plummet down to the ground below._

_"SOOOOOOOOONIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCC!" screamed Sally as she was sent hurling down from the top of the command center._

_"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed Sonic as he reached out to catch Sally, only to miss her completely for she was much too far away from him and he couldn't reach her._

_Sonic watched helplessly as Sally fell down towards the ground, screaming in anguish for there was no one to save her and she was surely in for a ghastly fate. Sonic closed his eyes and looked away as Sally's fall finished and a sickening crunch sound was heard. That crunch was the sound of bones breaking and Sally's screams were immediately silenced by that crunch. Sally was dead and Sonic had been too late to save her. This was the ultimate strain on Sonic's heart and he fell down to his knees in defeat, his eyes welling up with tears. He thumped the banister in upset rage and he wailed for his beloved princess. The other Sonic just cackled menacingly at Sonic, clearly pleased with what he had just done and clearly getting sadistic pleasure in watching Sonic wail for the world over poor Sally. The other Sonic then seized Sonic by the neck and held HIM over the side of the building! Sonic struggled in the grasp of this Sonic copy he was up against but it was no use, he couldn't get free from the other Sonic's grasp. Sonic glowered into the other Sonic's eyes and he clenched his teeth furiously._

_"You murdered her! You murdered the love of my life!" ranted Sonic "I'm gonna kill you for this fake me!"_

_"Oh I'm not a fake you Sonic…" sneered the other Sonic "I am your worst enemy…"_

_With those cryptic words being spoken by the other Sonic, he then suddenly began to shape shift and he transformed into the familiar appearance of Sonic's number 1 arch-enemy…Dr. Robotnik! Sonic's eyes widened and his heart nearly stopped beating in panic._

_"Dr. Robotnik?!" screeched Sonic, unable to believe he was being held by the throat by his number one arch nemesis and staring death right in the face at his hands._

_"That's right hedgehog…" hissed Robotnik sinisterly "I killed your princess…and now I am going to kill YOU!"_

_Sonic's life flashed before his eyes as Robotnik drew his arm back and thrust it forward, letting go of Sonic and sending him hurling down from the command center and down below. As Sonic was falling, the only thing the hedgehog could do now was scream in disdain as the ground began to catch up to him._

_"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…"_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Sonic woke up in a cold sweat and his hand shot over onto his pounding heart as he came out of his sleep and his nightmare ended. Sonic gasped and panted for breath. He sounded like he had just completed a 24 hour marathon and was deathly tired because of it. Sonic looked around and realized that he was still in the cave and he wasn't falling or anything. Everything was totally alright. Sonic wiped sweat off his forehead and he slumped against the wall, sighing with relief and calming down a little.

"Oh sweet merciful heck…what a killer nightmare that was!" blustered Sonic, breathing heavily as he calmed down from the bad dream "That was one mondo bad dream that was! But it's alright…it's just a dream. Sally's still alive, but in a coma, and I'm alright. The hedgehog still lives to run another day…sigh…"

He breathed heavily as he began to relax and shake of the frightening nature of his terrible nightmare.

"Well…I'm all rested up from my nap so now I think I should trek on to Robotropolis and find proof that I didn't kill Sally so I can clear my name and everybody will except me back into the village." said Sonic "I sure hope Robotnik's ready for this because I'm not holding back on this one."

Sonic got up onto his feet and stretched ever so much as he got his body to finish waking up. He bent over backwards to stretch his back out a little and he bent down forward and touched his toes. His body began to feel ready for action as he did some stretching and he smiled to himself.

"Oh boy do I feel good now!" he declared to himself "Princess Sally, you hold on for me for your handsome hero is about to find out who REALLY tried to murder you!"

But his ambitions were rudely interrupted by the sound of pounding feet. The marching sound echoed through the cave ominously and they sounded metallic. Sonic listened carefully to the eerie sound of clanking, metal feet marching through the cave towards him and he instantly worked out that the feet obviously belonged to robots. And probably…Robotnik robots no less.

"Seems I'm not alone here." murmured Sonic "Looks like robots are coming my way! And I'll bet they're SWAT-bots too! But how did they find me? No matter, I'll just smash them all for time is of essence here and I can't afford to be hiding from SWAT-bots."

With that said, Sonic ran into a hole in the cave wall and he crouched down inside it, making sure that he was invisible to the SWAT-bots as he crouched deep down in the hole. He stared ahead of himself as he waited for the SWAT-bots to show up. The sound of clanking feet was getting closer and closer as they were heading towards his location and Sonic could feel his stomach tingling as he waited to leap out and attack the SWAT-bots. Then suddenly, the marching stopped and the cave fell into an unsettling silence. It wasn't silent for long though for a voice soon echoed around the room and confirmed to Sonic that his unwanted guests were indeed SWAT-bots.

"Wait here troopers. I will scout ahead and see if the hedgehog is around." droned the SWAT-bot that was leading the troops "If he leaps out and attacks me, you must come in and fire your weapons at him."

"Yes Unit 8643." droned the other SWAT-bots.

Unit-8643 was the only one who had survived Sonic's earlier onslaughts after the plane had been brought down by the earlier troopers and he was leading this back-up of his. Unit-8643 strode forward, keeping a cautious eye out for Sonic as he trekked carefully through the cave and scanned his surroundings. Unit-8643 went on for quite a while and still found nothing. He began to think that it might be safe for the others to come out and continue looking for Sonic. But then just as Unit-8643 began to feel it was safe, Sonic erupted from out of his hiding place and he slammed Unit-8643 against the wall. Instead of destroying him though, Sonic decided to spare him for he had something to ask him instead.

"OK butt-bot, why did you and a bunch of SWAT-bots shoot down the plane containing me and how did you come to know about me being flown off to somewhere?" demanded Sonic furiously.

Unit-8643 just glowered at Sonic with his red visor and refused to speak.

"Answer the question or I'll rip out your electronic brain!" repeated Sonic angrily, putting his hands around the SWAT-bot's neck and threatening to yank his head off.

"We were sent to shoot down the plane because Robotnik wants you dead." droned Unit-8643 in defeat "And we came to know of you being flown off because Robotnik found out you were being taken away in a plane thanks to an agent of his."

"Figures the fat buffoon wants me dead." muttered Sonic "Who's Robotnik's agent?"

"Unknown." droned Unit-8643 "All I know is that Robotnik had an agent help him set up your framing as well as find out you were…"

"Set up my framing?!" interrupted Sonic "I KNEW Robotnik framed me for the attempted murder of Sally! What's the big doofus up to now?"

"He has built an Automaton version of you just to frame you for the attempted murder/murder of Princess Sally Acorn." answered Unit-8643 "He is doing all of this so he can get you out of the way for his ultimate plan. As of now, he is probably taking over Knothole and setting it up for his ultimate plan."

Sonic thought his quills were going to fall off as Unit-8643 told him all of this. Robotnik had some kind of plan and he was subjugating Knothole?! What was he hoping to do?! And since Knothole was being taken over…that meant that his friends were in danger and Sally was probably going to be killed for real this time! Since she was in a coma, she'd have no chance if Robotnik was hoping to finish off what he started!

"That scum-heap…what's his ultimate plan?" asked Sonic furiously, jamming his face threateningly into Unit-8643's metallic face.

He didn't receive an answer for Unit-8643's back-up could hear all the commotion and they had arrived to help their leader. The whole platoon of SWAT-bots all arrived at the location Sonic and Unit-8643 were in and they began to open fire at Sonic with their laser rifles. These rifles were not like the usual laser rifles for when the shots hit something, it disintegrated instantly. Sonic yelped in shock as parts of the ground disintegrated in front of him as the shooting SWAT-bots tried to hit him but to no avail. Sonic whizzed off frantically, keen not to get hit by a disintegrating laser blast.

"Yikes! Those SWAT-heads have disintegrators!" cried Sonic "I'd best run for it before I become nothing but atoms!"

He rushed through the cave with the SWAT-bots running after him as fast as they could possibly run. They were desperate to shoot Sonic and kill him just like Robotnik had ordered them to so they ran after him and tried as hard as they could not to lose him and to actually shoot him. But they'd never hit Sonic for he was just too fast for them. Sonic ran on through the caves, fighting hard not to lose momentum for the rocky ground made it a little harder to run on than most surfaces he ran on. Sonic looked over his shoulder and saw that the SWAT-bots were trailing hopelessly behind as he sped away from them. Sonic could barely resist the urge to stick out his tongue at them as the SWAT-bots trailed behind. But Sonic's winning streak wasn't going to go on for long for he ended up reaching the end of the cave and he screeched to a halt as he exited the cave and found himself on a ledge with a roaring waterfall beside it and a VERY long drop down below! Sonic managed to stop just on the edge of the ledge and he looked down at the ground, which was a very long way down from where he was, and he gulped.

"Oh man…I'm at a dead end and there's lots of water down there!" he wailed "Oh how I wish for once in my life I could swim! But I can't turn back, I'll get disintegrated if those butt-bots hit me. I guess the only way to go is down…"

With that said, Sonic took a deep breath and he threw himself off the ledge. Sonic plummeted down to the ground like a falling stone as he leaped from the ledge. He was falling beside the waterfall as he plummeted down to the ground.

"OK, let's see if this works!" cried Sonic as the water at the bottom of the waterfall began to catch up to him.

Sonic moved his legs as furiously as he could as he fell. His legs moved faster and faster until they became nothing but blue and red blurs flailing around underneath him. Then his legs became the usual blurry wheels they became when he ran at his fastest. Sonic held his breath and prayed that his idea was going to work as he came down with a splash into the water. Because Sonic was moving his legs at supersonic speed, he didn't go down into the water. He just simply ran across the surface and rocketed forward! Sonic let out his breath and he looked at his feet, amazed to see that his plan had worked and he was rushing across the water like he hoped he would do. Sonic whooped with joy and immediately ran onto the land beside the river. He didn't stop though. He kept on going and going until he was far away from the cave and even further away from the SWAT-bots. He had run so far away from the cave that he couldn't even see it anymore and he had managed to get that far in less than five minutes too. As for the SWAT-bots, they had arrived at the ledge at last and they all looked around for any signs of Sonic the Hedgehog. He didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. Sonic was gone and they had lost him. Unit-8643 looked down at the river below and came to a conclusion.

"Sonic the Hedgehog is not around. He must have fallen off the ledge into the river." he deduced "Nobody can survive a fall like that. Sonic the Hedgehog is finished at last. Mission accomplished."

The other SWAT-bots seemed a little uncertain about that deduction but then again, what could they conclude? They had no idea where Sonic was and there was nowhere to go but down so he must have either jumped into the water to evade them or he fell into it by accident. Either way, Sonic was likely to be dead. Satisfied with the conclusion, the SWAT-bots all left the cave and marched off away from the ledge.

Over to Sonic, he had come to a stop and he began to talk to himself.

"Whew…can't believe I survived that." he said "Well, I wasn't going to know unless I tried it of course. So glad I did survive though. So now I can get back to Knothole and save my friends!"

His face suddenly fell as he realized something.

"But…Robotnik might have lots of SWAT-bots with him." he realized "And he has an Automaton Sonic with him. That's NOT going to be easy to defeat. I may need some backup for this. And I know JUST who to call for said backup…"

So now Sonic had an idea, he ran off and headed off to a location that he had been to before. A mysterious place known only as…Angel Island…

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Knothole, the Auto-Sonic was completely flooring the Freedom Fighters and the Wolf Pack as if they were nothing, not surprising considering it's a clone of Sonic and is just like him in everyway, even down to the personality. Dr. Robotnik stood by and laughed gleefully as Auto-Sonic beat up all the Freedom Fighters. At the end of this day, the Freedom Fighters wouldn't have enough strength left in them to so much as twitch a finger. Perfect for making sure that they cannot foil his plan. Despite Auto-Sonic's battle prowess, the Freedom Fighters and the Wolf Pack were determined to defeat it and they fought on as much as they could. Bunnie Rabbot ran in and uppercut Auto-Sonic in the face with her robot arm. Auto-Sonic took the blow and he retaliated with a kick to the gut and then an uppercut to the face of his own. Bunnie staggered backwards but Auto-Sonic wasn't done with her yet. He whizzed around behind her and drop-kicked her in the back, sending her hurling forwards onto her face. Auto-Sonic then ran up to Bunnie and pinned her down onto the ground by putting his foot on her back. Bunnie just deployed her arm cannon, aimed over her shoulder, and blaster Auto-Sonic off of herself. Auto-Sonic was a pretty well built machine so he took the shot as if it was nothing but he did stagger off of Bunnie after being blasted so the Rabbot was able to get back up onto her feet. She blasted at Auto-Sonic again but Auto-Sonic dodged the attack and he whizzed towards Bunnie. He clenched both of his fists and threw them upwards, walloping Bunnie in the face with them as he ran into her. That blow was almost hard enough to take her head off. Bunnie was thrown onto her back and she grimaced in pain. Auto-Sonic just laughed at the Rabbot.

"What's the matter guys? You're barely putting up a fight here!" he taunted "I'm just getting warmed up out here!"

Tails was next to fight. He flew towards Auto-Sonic and he tail-whipped him directly in the head. Auto-Sonic wasn't effected much by the blow and he just retaliated by spin-dashing Tails down into the ground.

"Come on! Is that all you got?" he sneered, pinning Tails to the ground and grabbing him into a chokehold "I think Robotnik's SWAT-bot army could take you on no sweat! I don't think I'm even needed for this battle!"

"Auto-Sonic, stop gloating and focus on the battle!" bellowed Robotnik "We can't afford to mess this one up!"

Auto-Sonic obeyed and he shut his mouth. Amy came running up towards Auto-Sonic with a large stick in her hands. You could probably consider that as like her weapon of choice before she comes to use the Piko-Piko hammer years later. She smacked Auto-Sonic with it but the stick just promptly broke when she hit him with it. That made Amy tremble with fear and Auto-Sonic smirked mockingly at her. He then picked Tails up by his neck and threw him into Amy. The two kids were sent sprawling across the ground after that and they moaned ever so loudly for the pain that swept over them was excruciating. Auto-Sonic advanced on Tails and Amy but as he was about to grab them, he heard Antoine running towards him.

"Impostor! I will unleash my king-fu on you and make you sorry you dared to impersonate Sonic and frame him for the attempted murder of ma Princess Sally!"

Auto-Sonic just narrowed his eyes and his mouth curled up into a gloating smirk as he watched Antoine coming towards him. He then reached out and grabbed Tails by his tails, earning a rather shocked expression from the fox. He then swung Tails around like a baseball bat and walloped Antoine with him. Tails cried out in pain as he was violently smacked into his friend's body and Antoine yelped in surprise as he was knocked off his feet by the Freedom Fighter youngster. Antoine was thrown down onto his side after that attack and Auto Sonic advanced on him, still holding Tails by his tails. He raised Tails above his head and then smacked him down onto Antoine as if he was a roll of newspaper being used to swat a pesky fly that won't go away. The two screeched in anguish as Tails was smacked onto Antoine and Auto-Sonic rose Tails above his head again, poised to make another slam. But that slam never came for Rotor lumbered towards Auto-Sonic and fisted him in the side of his head, making him drop Tails down beside Antoine and sending him hurling down onto his side. Auto-Sonic picked himself up only to receive another hefty punch from Rotor. Rotor then uppercut Auto-Sonic in the face and nearly took his whole head off. Auto-Sonic retaliated with a punch to Rotor's flabby gut and then he roundhouse kicked Rotor onto his side. Rotor tried to get back up but Auto-Sonic elbow thrusted him on the top of his cranium. That blow made Rotor feel very light-headed and left him with a splitting headache. You'd feel exactly the same if you got elbow-thrusted on the head by a robot. Auto-Sonic then decided to do this: he grabbed Rotor by the arm and hauled him onto his feet, the walrus still recovering from that elbow slam on his head.

"The fox kid was a good club, let's see how much better YOU are!" he chortled.

He saw Antoine and Tails running towards him with their fists bared. Auto-Sonic smirked at them and he swung Rotor around. He walloped the coyote and fox with the walrus and then let go of Rotor, sending all three of them sprawling in a heap across the ground. When you're as heavy and large as Rotor, you will seriously be a hard, heavy club if someone swings you into them. Being hit by Rotor was almost like being hit by a bowling ball only not as hard. After that had happened, Bunnie flew in and punched Auto-Sonic directly into a nearby hut.

"Stop throwin' mah friends around like that ya creep!" screeched Bunnie angrily.

Auto-Sonic just picked himself up and spin-dashed towards Bunnie. Bunnie smacked him away with her robot arm but Auto-Sonic just bounded back towards her and he spin-dashed her in the side, knocking her down onto the ground. Auto-Sonic grabbed Bunnie by the ankles and he swung her over onto her back. Then he threw her up and kicked her into a nearby hut where she burst straight through the wall and left a hole in it. Auto-Sonic was about to run into the hole and add insult to injury but Lupe and the Wolf Pack charged in and began bombarding him with punches and kicks. Lupe roundhouse kicked Auto-Sonic in the head and then tripped him up with a kick to the legs. Auto-Sonic wasn't down for long though for he jumped back up onto his feet and he jumped towards Lupe. He grabbed her by the shoulders, flipped himself over her while holding onto her shoulders, and then he threw her over onto her stomach just inches in front of himself. Lupe groaned as she fought the pain in her body. The other Wolf Pack members tried to grab Auto-Sonic but the Automaton Sonic clone whizzed around them all and walloped them as he ran past them. He jumped up to one wolf and kicked him down onto the ground. Then he ran past another and punched him in the gut. He kept this up until he had all the Wolf Pack members down on the ground, groaning in pain and trying to get back up. The Freedom Fighters ran into help the Wolf Pack but Auto-Sonic spin-dashed them all and brought them down onto their backs. He stood before the defeated Wolf Pack and Freedom Fighters with a gloating smirk on his face.

"Well that was a satisfying work out." he sneered "Thanks for the exercise everybody."

The Freedom Fighters just glowered at Auto-Sonic but they remained down for they couldn't fight anymore. They were too weakened from Auto-Sonic's beat down to keep fighting. Dr. Robotnik cackled with delight at this and he stepped forward to congratulate his prodigious invention for winning this battle.

"Excellent, excellent." he purred gleefully "Well done Auto-Sonic. You sure gave those Freedom Fighters a run for their money didn't you?"

"Thanks doc. I sure did." gloated Auto-Sonic.

"Indeed." said Dr. Robotnik "Now my SWAT-bots, restrain the Freedom Fighters!"

With that said, all the SWAT-bots that had come with Dr. Robotnik and were standing by waiting for orders marched forward and they seized the defeated Freedom Fighters and Wolf Pack. They handcuffed them all and forced them into a sitting up position on their knees. Robotnik stood before the defeated Mobians and he smiled gloatingly at them all.

"How does it feel Freedom Fighters? To be totally defeated and to have no hope left for your freedom?" crowed Robotnik mockingly "You've all been defeated and you have no Sonic to help save the day this time. Bet it feels most terrible doesn't it?"

"You bet it does Robotnik!" snapped Tails "But I've not lost hope! I'm still betting Sonic's alive and your attempt to kill him has failed! He'll show up and save us all, just you wait!"

"I wouldn't hold your breath for that little Tails." sneered Robotnik "For even if the hedgehog lives, he will be too late to stop me. For my "Ultimate Annihilator" will soon be in place. And once it is…the Freedom Fighters will be nothing but a memory to all of planet Mobius and I will reign supreme as Dr. Robotnik, Ruler of Mobius and unopposed by anyone!"

He proceeded to laugh gloatingly at the very thought of this. His plan was coming to fruition and he'd soon be launching it any minute now. The Freedom Fighters couldn't help but wonder what exactly Robotnik was planning but they instantly guessed it was bad from what he had said. What was the Ultimate Annihilator? And what was it going to do once it was in place…?

* * *

_**Knothole's been taken over and Sonic's out of the way...will Robotnik survive? Or will Sonic get back home in time to save the day?**_


	4. Striking Back

**Based on the original comic book story written by Ken Penders, Kent Taylor, Mike Gallagher and Karl Bollers for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog Issues 47-50 and published by Archie Comics.**  
**This re-write is intended for entertainment purposes and is also intended for those who feel the original Endgame story was lackluster and could have been better. No offence is intended for anyone who enjoyed the original story.**

Part 4: Striking Back

It had been a narrow escape for Sonic the Hedgehog but thanks to his quick-thinking, he had managed to escape from a gang of SWAT-bots that were pursuing him and he was now on the way to Angel Island to recruit someone that he knew in his desire to save Knothole from Dr. Robotnik. He had managed to find out from a SWAT-bot that Robotnik was taking over Knothole and had an Automaton Sonic with him. Sonic knew that robot copies of himself were no easy task. Just think of his first encounter with Metal Sonic and how much trouble Metal Sonic gave him back on the Little Planet. So Sonic was going to Angel Island to get some back-up to help him deal with such a threat. And that back-up was Knuckles the Echidna and his group, the Chaotix. Knuckles was the guardian of Angel Island and Sonic's friendly rival. Despite differences, the two respected each other enough and were on good footing. The Chaotix consisted of Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, Charmy Bee and Mighty the Armadillo. They were all good friends of Knuckles and all varied in abilities and strengths. Mighty was stronger than any living being on Mobius, Vector was also quite strong and had a sharp bite, Espio had ninjitsu skills and the ability to turn invisible-par for the course of chameleons and Charmy Bee was an aerial ace with a sharp stinger. They'd provide very ample help for Sonic which is why Sonic was going to recruit them for the mission to save Knothole from Dr. Robotnik. Now Robotnik was in Knothole, anything bad could easily happen. Robotnik could raze the place down to the ground, he could roboticize every single one of his friends and every single resident of Knothole. After coming close to losing Princess Sally Acorn to Auto-Sonic via a murder attempt to frame Sonic and get him out of the way so Robotnik's master plan could commence without interference, Sonic was determined not to fail to save Knothole. He was not used to failure so he was not content with the idea of failing. After a while of running, Sonic finally arrived at Angel Island. He screeched to a halt and stared up at the amazing floating island. Angel Island was a relic of mystery among many Mobians mainly because of the fact it was an island like no other. It wasn't like other islands because if floated above the ground instead of being in the water like all other islands. The island floated because of a mysterious relic known as the Master Emerald, which was a giant Chaos Emerald with immense amounts of power. Sonic looked up at the island, still amazed at the sight of it as ever.

"Aaah…Angel Island. I remember when I first came here." said Sonic "Knuckles and I got off on the wrong foot but we soon made up and teamed up to defeat Dr. Robotnik. I hope he's willing to help me save Knothole."

Sonic then bent down and got ready to run again. He revved his feet up and rocketed towards Angel Island. He leaped up towards the giant floating island and he managed to land on the huge, pointy lump of rock underneath the island. Sonic gripped it tightly and he climbed straight up it and towards the island. It was a quite a climb but Sonic eventually made it and he pulled himself up onto the surface of the island. To his surprise, he was now staring directly at the Master Emerald shrine itself and Knuckles was standing atop it, guarding the Master Emerald as usual. Knuckles had heard Sonic climbing up the island and he was about ready to attack but he had relaxed himself after realizing that this visitor was a familiar face. Sonic's face brightened at the sight of Knuckles.

"Hey Knuckles, just the echidna I was hoping to meet!" cried Sonic happily.

"Sonic? It's definitely a surprise to see you I will have to say." said Knuckles, jumping down from the emerald shrine "But it is nice to see a familiar face visiting Angel Island. What brings you to my fine home then you capricious little hedgehog?"

"A lot of things actually so sit back since I've got a big story to tell." said Sonic "Dr. Robotnik's made a fake robot copy of me and he used it to frame me for the attempted murder of Princess Sally."

Knuckles looked surprised to hear this. He knew Sally quite well from childhood so to hear this made him stare at Sonic in surprise.

"Attempted murder of…" he spluttered "Is the princess alright?"

"She survived, not sure how though, but she won't be alive for much longer since Robotnik's invading Knothole and he's probably got lots of SWAT-bots and the robot copy of me! I've had a bad experience with robot copies of me before and I feel I may need some back up so I was wondering if you could spare some ample time to help me save my home village and my friends from Robotnik. Are you up for it Knuckles?"

Knuckles thought very hard on that pressing matter. He was the Guardian of Angel Island and he was supposed to guard the Master Emerald in the name of his forbearers but he couldn't ignore a call for help. Sonic had helped him a few times before, most notably their first meeting where Sonic helped Knuckles get his jewel back from Robotnik. He could take Sonic up on this offer as an act of returning the favour. Not to mention he'd helped Sonic before. He let the Freedom Fighters experiment on a Chaos Emerald to see if they could de-crystallize King Max before, went on a quest to find the Sword of Acorns for Sally Acorn and had even helped to save Sonic from his roboticization at the hands of Dr. Robotnik so there was no reason that he should refuse to help Sonic save Knothole. Knuckles made up his mind and he turned to Sonic.

"You've helped me out before Sonic…so I shall now return the favour." said Knuckles "I've aided you a few times before so I shall aid you again. I'll be more than happy to help you save Knothole."

Sonic smiled at his friendly rival and he shook his hand.

"Thanks Knuckles, that's mondo nice of you to help me save my village." said Sonic.

"You're welcome and you helped me save my home before so I'll help you save yours." said Knuckles casually "But I'm not going to be the only one helping to save Knothole, I'm going to bring along some friends of mine to add some extra muscle. You know what they say, the more the merrier."

"Some friends of yours?" mused Sonic "You mean the Chaotix right?"

"Indeed I do." said Knuckles "Vector, Espio and Charmy oughta add a little extra to our forces. Besides, they've been itching for a shot at Robotnik himself and what better time to let them have that shot then right now?"

"Way past cool Knuckles." said Sonic happily "So, were are the Chaotix right now?"

"They'll be somewhere around the island, I'll just go and look for them now." said Knuckles "I'll try and be as quick as possible since they could be anywhere on the island right now."

"Huh…surely a cell-phone between you all would be faster?" sighed Sonic, his impatience growing for he was dying to save Knothole right now.

Knuckles ignored Sonic and darted off to get the Chaotix while Sonic waited by the Master Emerald shrine and waited for Knuckles to come back. Sonic wasn't much of a waiter since he's always on the move and always running off so patience was not something he was very good at. Still, he'd have to wait whether he liked it or not. Sonic wouldn't have minded running off to find the Chaotix since he could run very fast but given he hasn't been on Angel Island much, he had no idea where to find the Chaotix so it was best that Knuckles did it since he knew his way around the island and would know where to look.

After a few minutes passed, Knuckles returned back to the Master Emerald shrine with Vector, Espio and Charmy following him. It had taken Knuckles a while but he had found them at last and now they were all ready to help Sonic save Knothole from Dr. Robotnik. Sonic was happy to see that the Chaotix had been found at last, that meant they could get going already.

"Hey, you've found them." said Sonic brightly "Now we can get going and save Knothole!"

"Knuckles told us what we were being recruited for." said Vector "He told us that Dr. Robotnik's taking over your village and you need some help. We're more than happy to help you since any friend of Knuckles is a friend of ours."

"You apparently helped save Angel Island before Sonic so we shall help save Knothole." said Espio "That debt of honour is the most you deserve for your heroism."

"I hope I get to sting Robotnik up the backside!" giggled Charmy excitedly "I've always wanted to do that to him!"

"Aw, thanks guys." said Sonic appreciatively "Knuckles really has some nice buddies doesn't he? So anyways, how will we all get to Knothole very fast? I mean, I know I can run fast and all but I don't think you guys can run as fast as me. I'll just leave you all behind."

"That is correct, we're not supersonic like you are." said Espio "We won't be able to run after you and keep up with you."

"Yeah…we're too slow compared to you." said Vector "We need a quicker way of getting to Knothole."

"And thankfully, I have a quicker way of getting to Knothole." said Knuckles "The Master Emerald has great power as you probably know since it's the very thing that's keeping Angel Island afloat. One of the abilities the Master Emerald has is a power that many chaos related items have, Chaos Control. All we have to do is stand around the Master Emerald and one of us will yell "Chaos Control" aloud and we can warp ourselves to any location we like. We'll use the Master Emerald to warp ourselves over to Knothole."

"Ooooh…that sounds cool." said Sonic, impressed at what Knuckles had told him "And it'll save us one heck of a trip too. Let's do it to it!"

With that said, Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix all climbed up the emerald shrine and stood around the Master Emerald. Knuckles put his hand on the emerald and he yelled at the top of his voice.

"Chaos…CONTROL!"

After yelling that, the Master Emerald glowed a bright, radiant, fluorescent green colour that engulfed everybody and then, in the blink of an eye, the Mobians were surrounded by a bright green flash and they vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of their existence behind. That Chaos Control was going to bring Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix over to Knothole and once they were there, they could save the village and Sonic could get some payback on Robotnik for being framed by him…

* * *

Back in Knothole, things were not looking very good at all. The Freedom Fighters and the Wolf Pack had all been defeated and subdued by Auto-Sonic, the very robot that framed Sonic for the attempted murder of Princess Sally, and now the SWAT-bot troops were beginning to round up all the other citizens of Knothole. Robotnik had been enjoying this take-over this very hiding place for the Freedom Fighters very much and he was over-seeing the entire operation as it went full steam ahead and everything was going underway. The Freedom Fighters and the Wolf Pack could only watch in disgust as the SWAT-bots patrolled around the village and broke into homes to grab the residents inside and yank them straight out into the village square. After the villagers were praised from their homes and taken out into the village square, they were fitted with handcuffs and forced to sit alongside the Freedom Fighters. Even Geoffrey St. John had been caught and hand-cuffed, by Auto-Sonic that is, and was now being forced to sit with the others as things were in motion for Robotnik's so-called "ultimate plan". The Freedom Fighters couldn't really understand why Robotnik was doing this to all the villagers in Knothole. Was he planning a mass roboticization process and they were all going to become Robians or was he planning a mass execution of some sorts? In either case, this was one of Robotnik's biggest cases ever and it seemed he was enjoying it very much as he was going ahead with it every step of the way. Robotnik was clearly planning something big and the Freedom Fighters were powerless to stop it from happening. As the last villagers were being restrained and positioned along with the others, Geoffrey looked at the Freedom Fighters with a rather apologetic look on his face.

"Well mates, looks like Sonic is innocent after all." he said "Robotnik did use a fake Sonic to do the deed as little Tails theorized and Sonic betted earlier. I'm…sorry that I didn't believe him and sentenced him like this."

"It's OK Mr. St. John, we were all fooled by Robotnik and falsely believed that Sonic really tried to kill Aunt Sally." said Tails "Although me and Uncle Chuck remained reluctant to believe it still even after his sentence. And now Robotnik's presuming that Sonic might be dead since he ordered some of his SWAT-bots to shoot the plane that was escorting him to Devil's Gulag down."

"So the obstinate little boy might well be dead at this moment?" said Geoffrey in despair "Crikey…I never thought I'd say this but…I bloomin' well hope the bloke's alive so he can help us all out right now."

"I am floating on ze same boat as you Mr. St. John." said Antoine agreeably "I am hoping zat Sonic is alive and he will arrive just in time to save us and stop le evil Robotnik from ruining our village!"

"We're ALL hoping that Mr. D'Coolette." said Amy Rose "Sonic's our only hope now and I really hope he isn't dead like that evil Robotnik thinks he might be!"

"Well sugah, ah guess we're just gonna have to hang on tight and see what happens." said Bunnie Rabbot gloomily "Ah will say, it's a good thin Sally-girl's in that coma so she doesn't have to go through all this. Although it'd be nice for her to wake up and maybe give us a hand or two secretly…"

"I may love Sally but I doubt she'd be of much help in this situation love." said Geoffrey doubtfully "I mean once she frees us all, that Auto-Sonic might just beat you all up again and then we're back to square one only with Sally captive too."

"Yeah…ah think yer right Geoff." said Bunnie downheartedly "So it might be fortunate for Sally that she's missing out on this after all."

"If Robotnik's "Ultimate Annihilator" is what it sounds like then Aunt Sally won't have to worry about anything since we might all be dead." said Tails "I mean, doesn't the "Ultimate Annihilator" sound a little apocalyptic in some way?"

"While Robotnik might well just be using that name to scare us all, it might be some kind of deadly weapon." guessed Rotor "I bet he's rounding us all up so he can use it to…annihilate us."

"But why would he want to do that?" asked Tails "I thought Robotnik wanted to roboticize all the people of Mobius, why would he suddenly turn to genocide?"

"He might not be lad, he might just be getting rid of us in particular." suggested Geoffrey "And my guess is because we're all Freedom Fighters and a threat to his army, he might be annihilating us just so we can't stand to his robotic army anymore."

"And he might not be roboticizing us for in case we get saved and de-roboticized or we get our freewill back and then go back to fighting against him or something." theorized Rotor "I guess it's a case of "better safe than sorry" with him now."

"Mon Dieu…" gasped Antoine "You are tinking zat Robotnik might be…annihilating us?!" squeaked Antoine "Non…I am being too young to die! I do not want to be annihilated! Oh Sonic, hurry up and help us!"

"How ironic that the one who testified against Sonic is now begging for his help." sniggered Tails cheekily.

"Now, now Tails, be nice." said Bunnie sternly "We might be starin' death right in the face at this moment so we can do without the little quips."

"OK." said Tails.

"You know if Robotnik is planning to kill us all…" mused Uncle Chuck "Then he truly is the craziest Overlander I've ever known…"

The Freedom Fighters all nodded agreeably. They knew Robotnik was mad but never in their entire lives had they ever imagined he was this mad. But he was Dr. Robotnik after all and he always has been a few clowns short of a circus so there was nothing that Robotnik wouldn't do if it was crazy and insane. Annihilating the Freedom Fighters might just be how far Robotnik's willing to go just to ensure that his enemies are dead. Just hearing all the theories from that discussion made Drago Wolf feel guilty for ever joining up with Dr. Robotnik and helping to make this entire plan possible. The Freedom Fighters were about to be executed and it was all his fault for ever working for Robotnik and telling him where Knothole is. Drago well and truly regretted his betrayal and he hoped that Sonic was still alive and was going to come and save everybody. As for Robotnik, all the villagers of Knothole had been taken out of their homes and lined up with the Freedom Fighters so the whole thing was done and ready for the next deadly stage. Robotnik stood before the entire crowd of Mobians with, Auto-Sonic by his side, in the manner of a king addressing his subjects and he crooned to them all.

"Greetings people of Knothole…" he purred in a dangerously soft voice that made people feel REALLY anxious just hearing him speak "…now that I have your attentions, every single one of you in this village, allow me to make a testimony."

Everybody looked at Robotnik and listened nervously, wondering what the good doctor had to say to them all.

"As you all know, Sonic the Hedgehog was accused of trying to murder your precious Princess Sally." continued Robotnik "But as you can see, it was yet another brilliant trick of mine. I framed Sonic and got you all to believe he would do such a thing and now, because of you, he was sentenced to a life in prison. I ordered some SWAT-bots to shoot the plane escorting him to the prison down and I've just received word from the squad that Sonic is dead. So your only hope of survival is dead at last and he cannot save you or this world."

While overseeing the operation, Robotnik had received word from Unit-8643 that Sonic was dead-although we know he isn't, the SWAT-bots just don't know that and merely decided to conclude that he was dead-and thus Robotnik believed that Sonic was dead and no longer a threat to his reign. That statement made everybody gasp in shock and Robotnik just laughed at their disdained reactions, clearly enjoying himself here.

"No…Sonic is…dead?" said Tails, unable to believe his ears.

"No! He can't be!" whimpered Amy, just about ready to start crying "My precious Sonic can't possibly be dead! I don't believe it!"

"Well you had better be believing zat little Amy since it appears Sonic is dead." said Antoine, looking worried about it all "Although I am hoping zat Robotnik is le bluffing just to upset us."

"Ah hope he's bluffin' too sugah-Twan." said Bunnie hopefully "But we dunno for sure so we'll just have to wait and see…"

"I will thank the Freedom Fighters for NOT talking while I am addressing you all!" thundered Robotnik furiously "Only **I** am permitted to speak at this point in time!"

The Freedom Fighters stopped talking and they all looked at Robotnik again.

"And now, I bet you are all wondering on what I plan to do to you wretched Mobians." continued Robotnik "Well, I am about to apprise you all on that now. Right now in Robotropolis, my greatest invention ever, the Ultimate Annihilator is preparing for take-off into space. Once it reaches space and is in the right place…it'll erase you all from existence! And I've programmed it only to target all of you right here in Knothole. Knothole is a standing village of hope and freedom for everybody around the world and thus, I cannot allow it to exist as such a staple of freedom will inspire people to fight against me and throw me off of my seat of power. So, I am going to erase you all, and Knothole itself, off the face of the planet! With Knothole gone, Mobius has NO beacon of hope left to cling onto and all hope for freedom will vanish in a millisecond! And once Knothole is gone, I shall be free to roboticize all of Mobius and there will be no Freedom Fighters to inspire people to stop me! The Freedom Fighters from abroad are no match for me so they will hardly fill in the very big gap you Freedom Fighters will leave behind once I erase you all from existence!"

What followed that ominous testimony was Robotnik letting fly an eerie, haunting cackle that would please any demon from the pits of hell if they could hear him doing it now. The Freedom Fighters, Wolf Pack and villagers were all horrified to hear this. Robotnik WAS going to kill them all after all! He was going to use his so-called Ultimate Annihilator to simply erase them and the village from existence! Robotnik truly was one dastardly villain if he was going to do something this evil and deranged! The worst part is though, nobody would be able to stop him from doing this for the Freedom Fighters were all restrained and Sonic wasn't here to help them. The end was coming for the Knothole residents and Robotnik was going to enjoy every minute of it.

"So Freedom Fighters…care to give me your last words?" crooned Robotnik smoothly, clearly in the mood for seeing what foolish banter the defeated heroes can give him before they all die.

"No since nobody's saying ANY final words except YOU Ro-butt-nik!" yelled a familiar voice that everybody had been hoping to hear.

The moment Robotnik heard that voice, his face fell into a rather humorously shocked expression and his moustache drooped down in horror. He couldn't move for a minute for he was so overcome with shock that he was frozen to the spot.

"No…it cannot be…the hedgehog is…ALIVE?!" shrieked Robotnik at the top of his voice.

"You bet he is fatty and he's here to deliver you a special gift, a kick to your gluttonous gut!" yelled Sonic, rushing in out of nowhere and kick-slamming Robotnik directly in the gut.

The Chaos Control had brought Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix to just on the outskirts of Knothole and Sonic had immediately rushed in to launch the first blow. That kick to the gut Sonic landed on Robotnik sent the evil, over-weight overlord hurling backwards and he crashed directly into a hut. The blow was so hard that Robotnik pretty much had the wind knocked out of him. As Robotnik gasped for breath, all the villagers of Knothole gasped with a mixture of astonishment and delight as they saw their big hero standing before them with his trademark cocky smirk on his face. Sonic turned to the crowd for a moment.

"Hey everybody, the hedgehog's back and here to save you all!" announced Sonic rather cheerfully.

"Sonic! You're alive!" cried Tails happily.

"I knew Sonic would come back for us!" cheered Amy.

"Yeehaw! Sugah-hog's alive and back to stop Robotnik!" cried Bunnie excitedly.

"Good to have you back sonny." said Uncle Chuck with a smile.

"You know what, I've just had a new experience today…being pleased to see the blue bloke." chuckled Geoffrey.

The others just chuckled at that rather funny statement.

"Sonic, we are all so sorry for not believing zat you were not le one who tried to murder le princess." said Antoine apologetically "Will you be forgiving us s'il vous plait?"

"Of course." said Sonic brightly "If there's anything I'm good at, it's forgiving people when they make a mistake or a false claim. I forgive you all for believing that I was the one who tried to kill Sally since Robotnik had a very clever plan and a very good duplicate to frame me. Now let's get you all out of those nasty handcuffs. Knuckles, Chaotix, care to help out?"

With that said, Knuckles and the Chaotix all emerged from their hiding places and they rushed over to join Sonic. The Freedom Fighters were surprised to see Knuckles again and they were even more surprised to see that Knuckles had friends with him. The SWAT-bots immediately leapt into action and began firing at Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix but the five quickly put a stop to them. Sonic spin-dashed through most of the SWAT-bots and destroyed them all instantly, Knuckles punched through the SWAT-bots and smashed them to pieces with his spiked fists, Espio used his ninja-skills to take down the SWAT-bots, Vector ripped them apart with his powerful hands and chomped them to pieces with his jaws and Charmy let them have it with a few kicks and a few stings to the body. In a matter of moments, the SWAT-bots were all defeated and Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix saw to freeing everybody. They broke the handcuffs to the Freedom Fighters and the Wolf Pack and they helped to free the citizens of Knothole. Robotnik watched all this in horror and he was about to go berserk with rage. His beautiful plan was being compromised and he needed to sort it out now otherwise he'll never win.

"That infernal hedgehog…how did he survive being shot down by my SWAT-bots?!" growled Robotnik "Well no matter, he won't survive this robot…Auto-Sonic! Get the hedgehog and exterminate him NOW!"

"With pleasure Robotnik." said Auto-Sonic, cracking his metal knuckles eagerly.

Auto-Sonic rushed over to Sonic just as he freed the last citizen of her handcuffs and he roundhouse punched Sonic in the face. That punch sent Sonic catapulting across the village and he landed slap bang into a nearby tree. Sonic shrugged off the blow and he clenched his fists, his eyes narrowed down to focused slits of pure rage and contempt. Auto-Sonic stood before Sonic, shaking his arm as if he was loosening a joint or two to get it moving swiftly.

"So we meet at last faker." crooned Auto-Sonic with a crick of the neck to both sides just as he said the word "faker" "Now let's see who will win in a battle between an organic Sonic and a robot Sonic!"

"It'll be me of course faker!" growled Sonic "I beat Metal Sonic and he was WAY more menacing then you are! And by the way, I've got a BIG score to settle with you jerk! You tried to kill the love of my life and you framed me for it! I am SO gonna flatten your face with my foot at the end of the day!"

"Just try it cretin! You'll not land a punch on me!" snorted Auto-Sonic.

Sonic just rushed towards Auto-Sonic and threw a punch at him only for Auto-Sonic to twirl out of the way and elbow him directly in the back. Sonic was thrown down onto the ground by the elbow-thrust and Auto-Sonic added more to the attack by grabbing Sonic by the spines on his back and throwing him into a tree again. Sonic picked himself up, brushing a few bits of tree bark off of himself, and he spin-dashed Auto-Sonic directly in the torso. He didn't send Auto-Sonic flying though, he kept up the spin-dash so he ended up **pushing** Auto-Sonic backwards and he kept going until he crashed directly through a nearby hut. The hut now had a large hole in the wall and the two Sonics ended up sprawling across the floor after crashing through it. Unfortunately for Sonic, this hut was the hut where the unconscious Princess Sally was resting in! Auto-Sonic picked himself up from the attack and he spotted Sally lying peacefully in a nearby bed. Auto-Sonic quickly got an evil idea in his head and he rushed over to be bed. He yanked Sally's unconscious body out of the bed and placed his hands around her throat. Sonic was about to go insane with horror as Auto-Sonic put his hands around Sally's neck.

"Stand down now faker or your pretty girlfriend will go from being "almost dead" to "really dead"!" snarled Auto-Sonic.

"Oh god, no, please don't hurt Sally! Don't hurt her!" begged Sonic frantically "I swear if you harm one hair on her head you will be a collection of parts for the scrap yard!"

"Then comply to my order and I will allow her to live long enough to wake up and see you begging on your knees before me!" taunted Auto-Sonic "Go on, all you have to do is stand down and the princess lives!"

Sonic's mind was in torment. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't stand down and surrender otherwise Auto-Sonic will win but he couldn't let Sally die before she could wake up from her coma and come back to everybody. But it seemed Sonic wouldn't have to worry about saving Sally for something jumped behind Auto-Sonic and kicked him in the back, making him drop Sally onto the floor and sending him hurling across the room. It was Espio the Chameleon. He had just turned invisible and sneaked into the hut to see how the two Sonics were doing and had just saved Sally's life. Espio turned visible and he bowed before Sonic respectably.

"Thanks Espio." said Sonic, picking up Sally's body and putting her back into the bed "You saved Sally's life."

"The honour is mine." said Espio "I can't believe how sick that robot is, daring to threaten a crippled innocent just to make you surrender. Ultimate dishonour!"

"I'll say." said Sonic, laying Sally down on the bed and pulling the quilt back over her "Should have known Robotnik would have programmed Auto-Sonic to be such a coward. He's a coward himself after all."

"I'm no coward you little twerp!" snarled Auto-Sonic, picking himself up and glaring at Sonic.

"Then prove it loser! You will fight ONLY me and you will NOT hold anybody hostage in this fight OK?" said Sonic.

"Whatever, just fight me already faker!" ordered Auto-Sonic.

Sonic grinned to himself. Robotnik truly made a great copy of himself, all the way down to the personality. Auto-Sonic shared Sonic's arrogance and Sonic could use that to his advantage. Sonic spin-dashed Auto-Sonic out of the hut and sent him skidding across the dirt outside. Sonic rushed out to join Auto-Sonic and he instantly started whaling on him as hard as possible. Auto-Sonic took most of the blows and he began whaling on Sonic too. Because he was metal though, his punches were harder than Sonic's and thus, he was beginning to get the upper-hand in this whaling match. Sonic however kicked Auto-Sonic in the leg and made him bend down on one knee. He then roundhouse kicked Auto-Sonic in the head and knocked him down onto his side. Auto-Sonic wasn't down for long though and he uppercut Sonic in the face. He spin-dashed Sonic and slammed him into the ground, pushing him along it so hard that a mound of dirt built up around Sonic. Auto-Sonic grabbed Sonic by the wrists and yanked him onto his feet just so he could punch him back down onto the ground again. He then pinned Sonic down and started punching him as hard as he could. But Knuckles decided to leap in and help Sonic and he socked Auto-Sonic directly in the side of his head, leaving two nasty dents in it because of his spiked fists. Robotnik hadn't had much experience with Knuckles so Auto-Sonic wasn't built to resist Knuckles as much as Sonic. Auto-Sonic was thrown off of Knuckles by the punch and he lay on his side, groaning in pain. Sonic and Knuckles stood side-by-side and they prepared to let Auto-Sonic have it and have it hard. Auto-Sonic picked himself up and rushed towards Knuckles. Knuckles socked Auto-Sonic in the gut and then slammed him on the top of his head but Auto-Sonic threw both fists up into Knuckles' fists, giving him a tremendous uppercut that threw him onto his back and Auto Sonic grabbed Knuckles by his ankles. Sonic leaped towards Auto-Sonic but Auto-Sonic swung Knuckles around like a baseball bat and smacked Sonic away. He then slammed Knuckles on the ground and ran towards Sonic. Sonic picked himself up and held his fist out. Auto-Sonic couldn't stop himself in time and he ended up running face-first into Sonic's fist. Sonic spun around and kicked Auto-Sonic in the chest. Auto-Sonic staggered backwards but he quickly sprung back with a left hook to the cheek on Sonic. He then delivered a right hook to the cheek and tripped up Sonic with a sweeping kick to the legs. Sonic came crashing down onto his back and Auto-Sonic grabbed him by the ankles. Sonic pulled on his legs, yanking Auto-Sonic forward and he punched Auto-Sonic in the face with both fists. Auto-Sonic clutched his face as Sonic got back to his feet and he spin-dashed Auto-Sonic directly towards Knuckles. Knuckles threw a punch as Auto-Sonic hurled towards him and Auto-Sonic ended up getting a heavy punch to the back as Knuckles hit him. Auto-Sonic was sent catapulting back towards Sonic and Sonic kicked him down into the ground. Auto-Sonic picked himself up weakly, his circuitry sparking and his joints creaking due to the damage he had received from the battle. Sonic stood triumphantly before Auto-Sonic and he smirked at him.

"You're finished you cheap imitation." said Sonic coldly "Now you and Robotnik better surrender now or you'll face destruction."

Auto-Sonic however suddenly grabbed Sonic by the arm and glared at him.

"If I'm finished then so are you!" he growled "Activating self-destruct sequence in five…"

That made Sonic instantly try and break free from Auto-Sonic but the Automaton Sonic clone was holding on pretty tightly and Sonic couldn't get free. Before Auto-Sonic could count down any further, Knuckles punched Auto-Sonic away from Sonic and Auto-Sonic hurled out of harm's way. He landed with a clunk on the ground and then self-destructed for his sequence had been activated and he had no way of stopping it. Auto-Sonic was no nothing put a pile of robot parts and was no more. Sonic sighed with relief and he shook Knuckles' hand graciously.

"Thanks Knuckles." said Sonic "I was about to go up like a firework there!"

"Don't mention it Sonic, can't have Mobius losing its biggest hero after all." said Knuckles.

"Now Auto-Sonic's dealt with, let's take down Robotnik." said Sonic.

But Robotnik had an escape route in mind. He pressed a button on his robotic arm and activated the bomb on Drago Wolf's back! The bomb activated and started bleeping as it counted down to detonation. Drago instantly freaked out and he ran off as fast as he could.

"Everybody get back! GET BACK!" screamed Drago "The bomb on my back's about to go off!"

That made everybody stand well back as Drago ran away from Knothole to save anyone getting blown up. While everybody was distract, Robotnik sneaked away and ran off back to Robotropolis, leaving the heroes to deal with Drago. As for Sonic, he heard Drago mention he had a bomb on his back and he ran over to help save him. But…he was too late. The bomb went off and Drago was instantly blown to smithereens by a colossal explosion that tore through some of the trees in the forest and blew Sonic off of his feet. Luckily, Drago had cleared Knothole so the bomb didn't do any damage to the village. Sonic grunted as he picked himself up and he stared at the damage done to a few of the trees by the bomb and the charred, grisly remains of Drago Wolf. Sonic was overcome with horror, horror as in he was horrified he'd failed to save somebody. He'd failed to save Sally from Auto-Sonic and now he'd failed to save Drago. He was not used to failing so this was a big shock to him.

"No…I failed to save Drago…" gasped Sonic "That Robotnik…how did Drago get a bomb on him?"

"Robotnik smuggled it on him." explained Lupe "He apparently black-mailed Drago into working for him and the bomb was put on his back to make sure he stayed loyal to him or else. And now Robotnik's just blown Drago up…poor Drago. He can't redeem himself for what Robotnik has forced him to do."

"What did Robotnik make him do like?" asked Sonic.

"Reveal the location of Knothole and help him orchestrate the plot to frame you my friend." replied Lupe "It's thanks to Drago that this whole thing was even possible and because he's dead, he can't make up for it now."

"What makes matters worse is that Robotnik's got a weapon called the Ultimate Annihilator and he's going to use it to wipe us and Knothole out of existence!" exclaimed Tails "He got you out of the way so he could commence with his plan without hindrance and I'm willing to bet now you're here to stop him, he's going to go and activate it right now!"

Sonic was dumbfounded with astonishment at that statement. The look on his face was legendary as he factored in what Tails had just told him. Robotnik had a weapon called the Ultimate Annihilator and was using it to wipe out the Freedom Fighters and Knothole? That must be this so-called "ultimate plan" Unit-8643 had told him. Robotnik was seriously planning to wipe out his entire village, his friends and maybe even himself all at once?! If that happened then Mobius would be doomed to a life of slavery forever and Sally would never get the chance to recover from her near-death at the hands of Auto-Sonic. Sonic's face turned into a hardcore scowl that made him look somewhat threatening and he clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles began to turn white, not that you can see if they are given he wears gloves.

"That tears it…Robotnik blackmailed a member of the Wolf Pack, made him do terrible things, framed me for the attempted murder of my girlfriend, tried to shoot me down and put me out of the picture, subjugated my village and made a weapon, all so he can wipe us all out of existence?!" he said, his voice like ice "That is it! Robotnik is going WAY too far now! We are taking the battle to him and we are going to take him down!"

"I'm with you all the way Sonic." said Tails supportively.

"We all are sugah-hog." chipped in Bunnie "So what do ya'll want us to do?"

"We are gonna storm Robotropolis, get to Robotnik and make him pay." said Sonic coldly "Robotnik's final hour is coming for him…"

* * *

_**This is it, the part you all know and remember from the original story, Sonic vs. Robotnik! Who will win this titanic showdown? Find out in the final chapter of this epic re-write...**_


	5. The Final Battle

**Written by Mixedfan8643 and TCH2**  
**Based on the original comic book story written by Ken Penders, Kent Taylor, Mike Gallagher and Karl Bollers for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog Issues 47-50 and published by Archie Comics.**  
**This re-write is intended for entertainment purposes and is also intended for those who feel the original Endgame story was lackluster and could have been better. No offence is intended for anyone who enjoyed the original story.**

Part 5: The Final Battle

Sonic the Hedgehog, Hero of Mobius, had decided that Robotnik had finally gone too far in his plans. He'd blackmailed a Wolf Pack Freedom Fighter, Drago Wolf, into revealing the location of Knothole, attempted to murder the girl he loved, Princess Sally, with an Automaton version of himself in order to frame Sonic for the crime, tried to kill Sonic with his SWAT bots, subjugated his home village and had constructed a weapon to wipe Knothole completely out of existence. This weapon was called the Ultimate Annihilator, and with Sonic alive and his Automaton Sonic destroyed, Robotnik had decided to activate the weapon right now.

Now, today, in the name of freedom, Sonic, the Freedom Fighters, the Wolf Pack and the Chaotix were taking the battle to him! Robotnik's tyranny ended today; Sonic would make sure of that!

The Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix were gathered at the outskirts of Robotropolis, making final preparations to mount their assault on Robotnik's main headquarters.

"No doubt, we'll encounter heavy resistance from Robotnik's SWAT bots," Sonic said to the team. "But we must push on through; we must reach Robotnik's HQ before he fires his Ultimate Annihilator. Knuckles, Bunnie, Mighty, you get the lead; you're the strongest of us, so you can take out the SWAT bots, no problem."

"You got it, Sonic!" Knuckles said.

"Easy peasy, sugah!" Bunnie said.

"No problem!" Mighty said.

"Okay, once we're through, we'll need to break into Robotnik's HQ. Tails, you have Nicole on you?"

"Right here, bro," Tails said, producing the AI computer.

"Once we get inside, use Nicole to hack into Robotnik's mainframe and deactivate the Ultimate Annihilator. Can I count on you to do that?"

"You sure can, Sonic, my main hedgehog," Nicole said. In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Sonic couldn't supress a small smile at Nicole's newly-developed sense of humour.

"Once that's done, we go straight for Robotnik himself!"

"Sonic?"

"Yes, Knuckles?"

"Since when did you go tactician all of a sudden?"

"Well, with Sally hospitalized, someone has to lead us, Knux."

"But you usually run head-on into a situation and make up your plan as you go."

"This is our darkest hour, Knuckles; I cannot afford to let my impulsiveness get the better of me; this is a time for careful planning and teamwork."

Knuckles was amazed. "Who are you and what have you done with Sonic the Hedgehog?"

Sonic waved his comment away. "Okay, guys, you know what to do. This is our final stand. Hold nothing back; either we're going down, or Robotnik is." He raised his fist. "For Sally and for all of Mobius!"

"FOR SALLY AND FOR ALL OF MOBIUS!" the Freedom Fighters, Wolf Pack and Chaotix said in unison.

"Okay, guys! Let's do it to it!"

What followed this statement was an enormous cheer from the Freedom Fighters, Chaotix and Wolf Pack. Now they were ready for action, the Mobians all charged into Robotropolis with Knuckles, Bunnie, Mighty and Sonic taking the lead. The SWAT-bots that patrolled the city saw them coming and they instantly jumped in surprise at what they saw.

"Red-alert! Red-alert! Freedom Fighters coming in at twelve o' clock!" shrieked one SWAT-bot.

"But Unit 5295, it's only ten past three according to my timing mechanism." said another SWAT-bot.

"Just fire at them you idiot!" snapped the first SWAT-bot.

So the SWAT-bots all took aim and they began shooting at the Mobians. The Mobians all scattered and Knuckles, Bunnie, Mighty &amp; Sonic ran forward. Knuckles drew his arms back and punched through some SWAT-bots, destroying them instantly as his fists drove straight through their bodies and smashed their armour. Mighty rolled up into a ball like a normal armadillo would do and he spin-dashed some robots to pieces. He then also grabbed two by their legs, lifted them up with ease and slammed them together as if he was slapping two fly swatters together. The SWAT-bots were destroyed instantly. Bunnie smashed some SWAT-bots with her cybernetic arm and she used her cybernetic legs to kick some away too. Sonic, of course, used his spin-dashes to smash the robots to pieces. Funny enough though, Sonic wasn't enjoying this as much as he normally would do. He felt...serious as he was destroyed the SWAT-bots. Never throughout the battle did a laugh escape his lips. His face contorted with loathing every moment of this battle. As he smashed one SWAT-bot after another, he just seemed to feel more and more angry. Definitely unusual behaviour for the usually happy-go-lucky hedgehog.

"You nearly killed my love...and you tried to wipe us out of existence!" snarled Sonic, smashing through another SWAT-bot "Robotnik, I will show no mercy once I get to you!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the command centre, Robotnik was inspecting the finishing touches to his Ultimate Annihilator, when Snively entered frantically.

"Sir, the Freedom Fighters, Chaotix and Wolf Pack are mounting an attack on the city!" he said. "They're coming for us, I know it!"

Robotnik didn't seem all perturbed by the news. "So, the hedgehog and his friends think they can stop me," he said. "Well, we'll soon see about that. Snively, mobilize all SWAT bots; tell them to create a perimeter around the command centre, while I make the final touches to my Ultimate Annihilator."

"Yes, sir," Snively said. Then, as Robotnik turned away, he muttered, "Your weapon will soon be your undoing, you ugly boil."

"WHAT WAS THAT, SNIVELY?!"

"Ahem, I said your weapon will surely prove to be a success this time, sir."

"I thought that was what you said." said Robotnik coldly.

He turned away from Snively and he wandered off to prepare the Ultimate Annihilator for activation.

"You have been a minor problem in this stratagem hedgehog..." purred Robotnik dryly "But you will not be a problem that grows to the point of being incurable! This weapon will fire and even you can't stop it!"

He cackled to himself as he left the room. As soon as he left though, Snively began cackling to himself.

"Oh uncle, you'll wish you'd never even bothered with this scheme..." chortled Snively as he began to tap some keys on the control pad...

* * *

Back outside, most of the SWAT-bots were beginning to fall and the Mobians were getting closer to the command centre, the very building upon which Sally had been thrown from in cold blood by Auto-Sonic. Sonic just hated the look of the command centre more than ever before looking at it for he now associated it with the building Sally nearly met her end at. Sonic spin-dashed through a SWAT-bot and he ran on towards the building.

"Sally...you were thrown from this building and almost killed..." grunted Sonic "Well now this building is going down with Robotnik. I promise you Sal...you'll wake up to a free Mobius tonight!"

As Sonic carried on running, Tails looked over at his friends.

"Hey guys, you noticed Sonic seems to be a little...edgy right now?" asked Tails.

"Oui, Sonic is being ze little bit furious isn't he?" agreed Antoine.

"Ah hope he doesn't let it get to his head or he'll do something horrible." said Bunnie with concern in her voice "Ah don't want sugah-hog to go around the bend..."

"What's keeping you guys?" Sonic barked over his shoulder. "Come on; let's get inside and get Robotnik. Bunnie, Mighty, break the door down!"

"With pleasure, sugah-hog," Bunnie said, flexing her metal fingers as she and Mighty stepped up to the door.

Bunnie and Mighty both punched through the door as hard as they could, breaking it in two and throwing it across the room.

"Oh YEAH!" They both yelled at the same time as they broke through the door.

The command centre's alarms began blaring loudly as the Mobians ran into the base and SWAT-bots began stampeding into the room to stop the Mobians dead in their tracks. The Freedom Fighters piled in first and began to cut loose on the SWAT-bots while the Wolf Pack and the Chaotix filled up the rear. SWAT-bots were getting destroyed by the dozen as the Mobians all ran into the command centre.

Sonic was in the lead, determined to reach Robotnik no matter what got in his way.

Tails, meanwhile, ran over to a nearby console and plugged Nicole into it. "Okay, Nicole, do your thing."

"It'll be my pleasure, my good fox," Nicole said.

Tails tapped a few buttons on Nicole and he began working away, seeing if he could hack into the system and shut-down the Ultimate Annihilator.

"Come on...please let us succeed..." Tails whispered to himself as Nicole began her hacking job.

As for the others, they were busting up SWAT-bots by the dozen. The room of which the battle was raging in was now littered with robot parts and inner circuitry. Sonic spin-dashed through some SWAT-bots, Knuckles punched through them, Mighty smashed them together, Bunnie user her robot parts, Rotor used what strength he had to fight them off, Antoine used his sword skills, the Chaotix did their thing and the Wolf Pack used their skills to fight through the crowds of SWAT-bots that tried to put them down. The SWAT-bots fired like crazy at them but their shots were ultimately futile for they could not hit the Mobians. Sonic broke some more SWAT-bots and he ran towards a door at the end of the room. Unfortunately for him, the door closed before he could run through it.

"No!" cried Sonic "Robotnik, you're not stopping me from getting to you!"

So Sonic proceeded to spin-dash against the door and try to break through it.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dr. Robotnik was watching Sonic from a monitor and he was a little surprised at what he was seeing. He'd never seen Sonic look so furious before. Had he finally pushed Sonic to his breaking point? He could probably use that to his advantage. He could break Sonic for good if he could do that. Robotnik grinned to himself as he though about this.

"How about I let the hedgehog in; alone? With him facing me alone, breaking him will be a cinch. And then, all his friends will follow, when they see their hero broken and miserable. Then nobody will be left to stop me!"

Robotnik cackled as he pictured Sonic's demise and his friends breaking down in tears over him. Robotnik pressed a button on the monitor and he contacted Snively.

"Snively, continue monitoring the Ultimate Annhilator." ordered Robotnik "I'm going to prepare for a little welcoming committee."

"Certainly sir." said Snively in a feign tone of loyalty.

Robotnik switched off and walked off to prepare for Sonic's arrival.

"Sonic will not stand a chance against me and my new invention." purred Robotnik "I'll evaporate that insolent hedgehog you see if I don't..."

* * *

Back outside, Sonic was still trying to break through the door. He wasn't having much luck though. The door was incredibly tough for him.

"Come on, you stupid door!" he shouted. "Open!"

Just then, it did open, just as Sonic was about to charge at it with a Spin Dash. "Whoa... that was unexpected..."

Then, Robotnik's voice sounded over an intercom system. "Sonic the Hedgehog, you and your friends have meddled in my plans for too long. There is only one way we can end this; you must face me, alone. Only then, will we know which of us is truly superior."

The other Freedom Fighters looked worried.

"Sonic, it could be a trap," Tails said.

"Ah agree," Bunnie said. "Y'all shouldn't go in there alone."

"Robotnik's inviting me to kick his ass so I think I'll take the invitation." said Sonic coldly "I'm going and I'm going alone. You lot keep the rabble off my back."

"But Sonic..." protested Tails.

Sonic shot a death glare over his shoulder at Tails, making the fox jump back in surprise.

"That's. an. order." growled Sonic, the pure nastiness of his voice making Tails shudder.

"OK then." said Tails hesitantly.

With that said, Sonic ran through the door to find Robotnik. The door closed up behind him as he ran through it. Tails and Bunnie looked at each other in worry.

"Oh no...Sonic's really lost it hasn't he?" asked Tails.

"Sugah-hog seems so...cold and so...angry." said Bunnie "It's like...all of what's happened has warped his poor little mind! Ah hope he can stop himself from going too far though."

"I hope so too." said Tails, looking at Nicole to see how she was doing in shutting down the Ultimate Annihilator "I don't wanna lose the Sonic I consider my brother..."

* * *

Robotnik was waiting for Sonic to arrive. He knew there would be a fight, but he wasn't unduly worried. Robotnik certainly wasn't known for his physical fitness, but he had used his technology to compensate for it, using nano-machines to enhance his abilities and metabolism. Plus, he had Sonic's anger and his ability to deliver Hannibal Lectures to use against his foe. He was going to enjoy this.

At that moment, the doors flew open and Sonic entered, his face full of loathing. "Julian Ivo Robotnik, now you will pay for your crimes against the Kingdom of Acorn and against all of Mobius! Your tyranny ends today! One shall stand; one shall fall!"

"Why throw away your life so recklessly?"

"That's a question you should ask yourself, Julian!"

"And why would I do that hedgehog?" purred Robotnik darkly "It is not I who will be throwing my life away today. Anyway, I cannot help but notice you have a perceptibly high level of anger at this moment. Tell me, is it because I nearly killed your precious princess Sonic? I'm dreadfully sorry about that...sorry that I didn't finish her off for real!"

He then leapt out of his chair and fired a laser at Sonic from out of his robotic arm. Sonic leaped out of the way and tried to spin-dash Robotnik but the fat scientist blocked the blow with a holographic shield that emitted from his arm. Sonic hit the shield and was instantly blasted with 100 volts of electricity. The shield had a shock-generator built into it. Sonic fell down to the ground and Robotnik picked him up.

"You never had a chance against me hedgehog." gloated Robotnik "And it shows in your success rates. Notice how I always seem to come back no matter how many times you let me take the fall? It's because I am simply too powerful."

"I've smashed every little one of your schemes before Robo-butt!" grunted Sonic "Ugh...and I always survive to fight another day! How powerful does that make you then?!"

"It matters not whether you survived to fight another day!" Robotnik said. "What matters is that you won't live after this day! And when I'm done with you, my Ultimate Annihilator will obliterate your village and your precious Princess as well!"

"NEVER!" Sonic shouted, and pulling himself from Robotnik's grasp, he Spin Dashed the dictator straight in the stomach, sending him flying across the room.

Robotnik hit the wall and he groaned in pain. He picked himself up and began firing lasers at Sonic from his robotical hand again. Sonic dodged the shots with relative ease but Robotnik had an idea. He aimed for where Sonic was going to end up after he leaped and shot at Sonic as he leaped. Sonic landed directly in the line of fire and he was brought down onto his back, wincing in pain and fighting the stinging pain of the shot. Sonic picked himself up, a scowl curled on his face, and he spin-dashed towards Robotnik again. Robotnik activated his holo-shield and Sonic hit it. He was shocked by the shield and brought down onto the floor. Robotnik kicked Sonic as hard as he could (amazing really considering how small his legs are) while he was down. Sonic picked himself up and spin-dashed towards Robotnik. Robotnik readied the shield but Sonic ended up jumping over Robotnik and landing behind him. He spin-dashed Robotnik in the back and slammed him against the wall. Robotnik groaned in excruciating pain as he hit the wall. Sonic jumped onto Robotnik's gut and he punched him in the face as hard as possible. Robotnik punched Sonic with his robot arm and sent the hedgehog flying off of himself. Sonic skidded across the floor and he ran towards Robotnik once again...

* * *

Meanwhile, the Ultimate Annihilator was entering its final stages. It was looming above Mobius in orbit and it was aiming down at the planet below, ready to fire its devastating beam that would erase Knothole from existence. Snively was preparing it for launch and he grinned to himself.

"Oh Uncle Robotnik, if you think that you're destroying Knothole then you've got another thing coming." sneered Snively "I'm not letting you destroy Knothole. That's too lenient on those Mobians. The Freedom Fighters deserve a life of captivity and they deserve to be servants for me, the great Snively Robotnik! And what better chance I have of getting rid of you then right now...your Ultimate Annhilator will bring YOUR annihilation!"

Just then, the monitor began beeping. _Hacker alert! Hacker alert! Hacker alert!_

"Now what?!" Snively said impatiently. "There's an intruder in the system?!"

He brought up several screens on the monitor, each showing a different computer. Then, he spotted Tails and Nicole at one of them.

"That pesky little fox is trying to stop me, is he?" Snively said. "I'll show him!"

Snively then proceeded to start taping on some controls in an attempt to counter-hack Nicole and keep her out of the system.

* * *

Over with Tails, Nicole's doing a good job getting into the system but unfortunately, Snively's found out about them and now Nicole found herself battling with Snively to make sure that she could get into the Ultimate Annihilator.

"Nicole, what's wrong?" asked Tails as he noticed a change in Nicole's actions on her screen.

"Snively is attempting to lock me out of the system." explained Nicole "I am doubling my efforts to make sure that Snively cannot stop me."

"Try your best Nicole, we NEED to stop that weapon from firing." exclaimed Tails worriedly "Robotnik will wipe us all out if you fail."

"I'm trying, Tails!" Nicole said, her voice now sounding restrained. "But Snively keeps packing them up against me!"

"I'll give you a hand!" Tails said, and began tapping Nicole's keys as quickly as he could.

Tails taped furiously and managed to crack a few of the codes Snively was uploading to try and block them out. Luckily his genius mind was able to keep up with the codes that were coming in so Snively was having a hard time keeping Tails and Nicole out of the system. Tails kept it going until it seemed that Snively was getting weaker and Nicole was able to deal with the rest. Nicole managed to pass through a few more firewalls and finally, she made it into the system. The Ultimate Annihilator was all theirs now.

"Sweet! We're in!" cheered Tails "Now let's shut this thing down!"

Unfortunately, Snively had other ideas.

"They're going to ruin everything!" growled Snively, running over to a storage compartment in the wall and opening it "That foolish fox is going to prevent Robotnik's doom! Luckily I know how to keep him out of the system for good..."

He yanked open the compartment and reached inside. He pulled out an enormous blaster rifle and he aimed it at the control box for the Ultimate Annihilator. He shot at the box several times until he eventually destroyed it, cutting Tails and Nicole off from the Ultimate Annihilator. The box was now a smouldering wreck that could not be used for anything ever again. Snively laughed to himself.

"Yes! They're locked out for good!" he cheered "And since I've already programmed the Ultimate Annihilator to fire, it cannot be stopped! It'll fire without delay and then soon Snively Robotnik's reign can begin! Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Back over to Tails &amp; Nicole, Nicole's screen went blank and Tails' heart began to pound. Had something gone wrong? Nicole ran a test and realized that something was deadly wrong

"NO!" Nicole cried. "Snively's destroyed the control box. I'm cut out completely!"

Tails was horrified. "That means we can't stop it from firing! Knothole is doomed!"

"Not if Sonic can stop it!" Nicole declared.

"I hope he can or...we're all dead!" exclaimed Tails.

* * *

As the Ultimate Annihilator reached its firing point and prepared to fire down on Knothole, Sonic and Robotnik continued their battle. Sonic kicked Robotnik in the gut and brought him down onto his knees and then he uppercut Robotnik into the air. Robotnik hurled up into the air like a beach ball and he came down with a rather painful bounce and then a thud onto the floor. Robotnik fired a laser at Sonic and hit him in the gut. Sonic skidded across the floor in pain and Robotnik advanced on Sonic. He activated his holo-shield and then pressed it against Sonic while he was still down on the floor. Sonic screamed at the top of his lungs as he was violently electrocuted by the shield. Because he was pinned to the floor, it seemed he would be trapped there and Robotnik would be able to keep him there for Sonic would not be able to resist him as he was electrocuted.

"I win Sonic!" crowed Robotnik as the hedgehog felt his life slipping away "You are beaten, broken and on the verge of death! The Ultimate Annihilator should be in place now! In a matter of seconds, you and your friends will cease to exist and I, Dr. Robotnik, will take over the world and you cannot stop me! Bwah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

At this, Sonic snapped! He refused to let it end like this! Robotnik was going to die, right here and right now! Focusing his thoughts on Sally, he reached up, grabbed the holo-shield and pulled as hard as he could, ripping the shield free.

"WHAT?!" Robotnik cried. Next moment, Sonic Spin Dashed into his left shoulder, tearing the robotic arm free. He then kicked Robotnik in the face, knocking several teeth and sent him crashing into a wall. He then grabbed a sharp object from the floor, ran to Robotnik and held it to his throat.

"If we die, I'll make sure you don't live to see it!" Sonic spat venomously. "Any last words?"

Robotnik stared at Sonic, unable to believe that the hedgehog had just said those words to him. Sonic really had gone off the deep end. Sonic was actually threatening to kill him! Robotnik began to sweat nervously. He thought Sonic was pretty scary acting like this now.

"Sonic...please...do not kill me!" pleaded Robotnik "Spare my life! I'll do anything you wish, please spare me!"

"Why should I?! You didn't spare Sally and you certainly won't spare us when your weapon activates so I don't think I'll be sparing you!"

Sonic raised the shrapnel above his head and he prepared to plunge it into Robotnik's neck. Robotnik gasped in horror as Sonic prepared to take his life.

Then, a voice spoke in Sonic's head. _Sonic, please don't do it, my love._

Sonic froze. "Sal? Is that you?"

Robotnik was confused. _What's up with him?_ he thought

_Sonic, if you kill him, you will only brand yourself a cold-blooded killer, like him. This isn't like you, Sonic._

But he tried to kill you and all of us as well.

And you're going to sink to his level? Please, Sonic, be the better hedgehog that I know you are.

Sonic took a moment to ponder on whether he was going stir-fry crazy or if that really was Sally talking to him. He was only imagining her voice in his mind and yet...it felt like she really was talking to him. Sonic suddenly began to feel guilty about what he was going to do. This wasn't what he was like at all. Killing was not something he fantasized at all. He always believed in incarcerating the wicked for they deserve to serve their penance. Killing the bad-doer does not bring them to justice, it helps them worm their way out of punishment and Sonic believed Robotnik deserved a very terrible punishment for his crimes. Sonic lowered his arm and he dropped the shrapnel.

_Thank you Sonic. Sally seemed to say to him in his head._

Sonic smiled at that and then he turned to Robotnik who's face was the embodiment of obfuscation.

"No...you don't deserve death Ro-butt-nik." said Sonic coldly "That's too merciful for you. What you deserve is life in a cold, hard prison cell for what you've done and prison is where I'm gonna haul your gluttonous backside to!"

"Is that so Sonic?" purred Robotnik "Well I cannot say that I'm awfully fond of prison. In fact...I abhor it!"

He then suddenly punched Sonic off of himself with this remaining arm and sent him hurling across the room! Sonic smashed into a console and fell to the floor on his front. Then, a screen fell onto his leg, trapping him.

Robotnik picked up a plasma rifle and walked over to Sonic. Both enemies were rather the worse for wear; they had cuts and bruises; Sonic's nose was bleeding and he felt sure at least his leg was broken; Robotnik had lost quite a few teeth, suffered a black eye and his left shoulder was sparkling. Nevertheless, he pointed the rifle at Sonic, grinning maniacally.

"I would have waited an eternity for this!" he purred. "You're too weak to finish me off; you always were. That's why bad guys will win in the end. It's over, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Sonic stared hard at the rifle, unable to believe that Robotnik had him completely at his mercy and he was going to get shot in the head. What a way to go for the big hero of Mobius! Sonic however saw a piece of debris lying next to him and he threw the debris at Robotnik's forehead. Robotnik yelped as he was hit by the debris and he accidentally fired at the screen trapping Sonic's leg. The screen was blasted to smithereens and Sonic wrenched his leg free. It wasn't quite broken but it did really hurt him. Sonic stood up and then winced as pain seared up his leg. He used his other leg to jump on Robotnik and knock him down onto the floor. He raised his fists up, ready to punch Robotnik and knock him out until suddenly, an enormous, violet blast erupted through the room and struck the two. The Ultimate Annhilator had fired at last and it was aimed directly at Robotnik and Sonic. The blast filled the room and everything seemed to go white as both enemies were engulfed by it...

* * *

The Freedom Fighters, Chaotix and Wolf Pack were still dealing with the SWAT bots, when an explosion shook the whole building.

"What is that?" Lupe cried.

"I don't know," Knuckles said.

"Oh no, I think the Ultimate Annihilator has been fired!" Tails cried. "We were too late! Knothole is gone and we're done for!"

"Wait a moment, Tails," Rotor said. "If it was the Ultimate Annihilator, surely we'd be dead by now. I think it came from upstairs."

"Sonic!" Tails cried. "Come on, guys, let's head upstairs and see if he's okay!"

The Freedom Fighters, Chaotix and Wolf Pack ran over to the door at the end of the room and Mighty, Bunnie, Knuckles and Vector broke through it by punching it together. Once they were through the door, they ran through the corridors and made it to the room where Sonic and Robotnik were having their battle. The blast from the Ultimate Annhilator had finally died down and in the room, Sonic was lying on the floor wondering which way was up. Robotnik however appeared to have vanished. He was gone and only Sonic was left in the room. He didn't look too good at all.

"Hooga...that wuz trippy..." burbled Sonic droopily.

The Freedom Fighters, Chaotix and Wolf Pack entered the room and they were all rather surprised that Sonic was here and looking rather beaten whereas Robotnik appeared to have disappeared.

"Sonic!" gasped Tails "Oh my gosh he's hurt! Let's get him outta there now!"

"Roger!" cried Rotor, running in to help Sonic "But...where's Robotnik?"

"Ze scoundral has le vanish-ed." blurted Antoine in surprise "Do you tink ze Ultimate Annhilator...ze vaporized him?"

"That's preposterous, why would Robotnik kill himself?" scoffed Knuckles.

"Maybe it was aiming for Sonic he was accidentally caught in the crossfire?" suggested Bunnie "Ah dunno but it seems like Robotnik's gone for good."

"We'll search the area and see what we can find." offered Lupe "You Freedom Fighters get Sonic to safety."

"OK Lupe." said Tails as Rotor picked Sonic up and carried him out of the room.

* * *

Meanwhile, Snively was simply jubilant. "YES!" he yelled in delight, jumping around. "YES! He's gone; Robotnik's gone at last! This world is mine now! Ha hahahahahaha!"

After a minute or two, he finally calmed down, reminding himself that the Freedom Fighters, Chaotix and Wolf Pack were still present in the building.

"I still have to deal with them," he said, crossing back to the console.

Snively was about to do something until he noticed that the Freedom Fighters were actually getting ready to leave. He watched on the monitor as the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix left the building with Sonic in tow but the Wolf Pack were sticking around and searching the area. Snively pulled a grim face.

"Those wolves will be investigating to see if Robotnik's really gone." muttered Snively "Oh well, I'd best get out of here before they spot me."

So with that said, Snively ran over to an escape hatch in the corner of the room and he opened it. He stepped into it and slid down the slide that provided an escape route for him or Robotnik when they wanted to abandon the building. Now Snively had escaped, he was going to lie low for a while and then he would strike back at the Freedom Fighters and take them down...his reign was going to begin the moment he emerged from hiding...

* * *

Sonic, who had passed out during the journey back, slowly regained consciousness, though he didn't open his eyes straight away, as they felt too heavy at the moment. He was lying in an extremely comfortable bed and he thought he could hear voices around him.

Sonic groaned slightly and then, he heard Tails' voice.

"Look, everyone; he's waking up!"

Sonic opened his eyes blearily. For a moment, everything was a blur, but then he blinked and found everyone standing around his bed.

"Ugh...hey everybody...am I...dead?" groaned Sonic as he came back from unconsciousness.

"No Sonic, you're very much alive." said Rotor brightly "Although Robotnik doesn't seem to be."

"Wait what? What do you mean?" asked Sonic, rubbing himself better for he could feel some parts of his body beginning to ache.

"We found you lying on the floor in Robotnik's room and Robotnik seemed to have vanished." explained Tails "Lupe and the pack stayed behind to investigate and they said that they could not find any trace of Robotnik at all. It's like...he just disappeared."

"Really?!" gasped Sonic "Oh my goodness! Robotnik's...gone? Forever?!"

"Seems like it sugah." said Bunnie "And we have a theory on what happened."

"The Ultimate Annihilator fired but only Robotnik ended up vanishing when it did." explained Rotor "So we think that Robotnik was...annihilated by his own weapon."

"Whoa..." gasped Sonic "Really? Wonder why that happened then? Systems malfunction much?"

"I guess so." said Tails unsurely "Although Snively's gone too according to the Wolf Pack. Maybe he was annihilated too?"

"So...we won then...Mobius is free forever?!" blurted Sonic, getting ready to cheer with excitement.

"Seems like it." beamed Bunnie "The two big bads are gone for good and the Ultimate Annihilator is no more. The durn thing destroyed itself after it fired. We saw its remains burning up in the atmosphere."

Sonic was just about ready to cheer, when he remembered.

"Guys, back when we were attacking the command centre, I obviously was more angry than I ever was before," he said. "In fact, when I confronted Robotnik, I was actually ready to kill him and I almost did!"

"WHAT?!" everyone cried in shock.

"So, what stopped you?" Tails asked.

"I heard... Sally's voice in my head," Sonic said quietly. "She... told me not to do it. I know that sounds crazy, but I definitely heard her; I'm being honest here, guys. Oh, and Tails... I'm so sorry I scared you back there, lil buddy. Can you forgive me?"

"Sure Sonic, what you've been going through is perfectly understandable." said Tails reassuringly "I'm just glad you didn't kill Robotnik. You would not be setting yourself a good image at all and Aunt Sally wouldn't like to hear that you killed Robotnik, something that we Freedom Fighters don't do."

"I'm glad I stopped too." sighed Sonic "I never wanted to stoop down to Robotnik's level and..."

He stopped himself when he remembered something else.

"Sally! Where is she?" asked Sonic "Has she woken up yet?"

"No Sonic, le princess is still in ze coma at zis moment." said Antoine sadly "She is still in her hut if you wish to see her."

"Thanks Ant." said Sonic, leaping out of bed as if he didn't hurt anymore "I've gotta see her mondo quick! I hope she'll wake up eventually!"

"Wait a minute, Sonic!" Doctor Quack said. "You need to rest after your fight with Robotnik!"

"No time for that, doc!" Sonic said, brushing past him. "I have to see Sal, pronto!" And he hurried off without another word, completely ignoring the pain in his leg.

* * *

Sonic arrived at Sally's hut in a matters of moments. He opened the door quietly and entered. And there Sally lay, still in her coma, looking very peaceful.

Sonic stepped slowly up to her. He stroked her cheek and soft auburn hair gently; her fur was so silky smooth. She looked so beautiful, even in sleep; he almost found himself wishing that he could sleep with her, just the two of them. But he knew it couldn't be like that.

"Sally," Sonic said quietly, "ever since I met you as a kid, we've been the best of friends. We played together; we grew up together; we formed the Freedom Fighters together; and we fought for Mobius together. Sal, we did it; we won at last. Robotnik's gone forever; Mobius is free. Your wish has been fulfilled at last. I know it seemed like I was the one who dropped you from that building, but you know me, Sal; you know I'd never do such a thing to you." Sonic took a deep breath.

"I know we've had our difficulties with each other and we've argued a lot, but that never affected our friendship; nor did it ever affect my feelings for you. I know I'm just an impulsive, reckless and hot-headed speedster who always leaps without looking, and you're the Princess of Mobius, but... I love you. You make me feel happy whenever I think of you; being with you makes me feel so confident; and your voice makes my heart sing. You are my angel from heaven; you are a blessing to everyone in Knothole and especially to me. Please come back, Sal; we need you; I need you. I love you, Sally Acorn; I love you so much!" At this moment, tears were rolling down Sonic's cheeks and he made no attempt to wipe them away; he just bowed his head, crying silently.

It was at that moment that Sally stirred; her sapphire blue eyes opened to see Sonic crying over her silently. She had heard him, especially his last few words. He loved her; he truly loved her.

"Sonic..." whispered Sally quietly "Did I...hear you correctly?" she asked, a sly smile spreading out on her face.

Sonic lifted his head out of his tear-soaked gloved-hands and he gasped in surprise, his cheeks going red with embarrassment.

"Oh my gosh!" he cried "Y-y-you heard everything I said?!"

"Not exactly." said Sally softly "I heard you saying that you love me. I find that hard to believe though..." she said coldly "Especially since you threw me off that building! You've got a nerve trying to do me in and then come crying beside me and declaring your love for me! Who do you think you are?!" she snarled, sitting up in the bed and glaring at Sonic furiously

"Sal, I swear that wasn't me who did that!" shrieked Sonic in fright "The Freedom Fighters can vouch for that! Robotnik used an Automaton to try and kill you and frame me for the crime! Robotnik wanted to get me out of the way so he could wipe Knothole out of existence and thus, he tried to kill you and frame me for the crime! He actually succeeded too and I was nearly shipped off to Devil's Gulag. I managed to escape and we all stopped Robotnik...and I stopped him...in your name Sal. Please believe me, that's the honest truth." He sounded very imploring as he said it, more tears in his eyes.

Sally took in what Sonic had said to her and she knew deep down in her heart that Sonic was telling the truth. Sonic could never attempt to kill her so there was no reason why she shouldn't believe him. She was quite touched to hear that Sonic stopped Robotnik in her name. Sally's face fell into an apologetic expression; she felt terrible for what she'd said to him. She put her hands on Sonic's shoulders.

"Don't cry, Sonic; I'm so sorry I dared to think for a minute that that was you who tried to kill me." she said with her lips wobbling a little. "I believe you on what you've said. It's awfully flattering that you stopped Robotnik in my name though."

"Well thinking of you kept me going when things were getting tough." said Sonic, holding Sally's hands "And the reason you keep me going is because I love you Sal. Do you...love me too?"

"I think I'll let my lips deliver the answer." said Sally slyly.

She pulled Sonic close and planted a kiss on Sonic's lips. Sonic was both surprised and delighted to receive a kiss from Sally. The love of his life loved him it seemed. Sonic and Sally wrapped their arms around each other and they deeply embraced on the bed Sally had been sleeping in.

After several minutes, Sonic broke the kiss and looked deeply into Sally's eyes; he'd always loved those eyes of hers.

"Welcome back, Sal," he whispered. "And welcome to a free Mobius."

"Thank you, Sonic," Sally whispered back. "Thank you for being you."

"Shall we go and see the others?" Sonic said.

"Nah," Sally said. "Not yet; we'll have plenty of time for that later. Let's just enjoy this moment together."

"Of course, Sal," Sonic said, laying down on the bed with her and pulling the covers over them both.

The day had been won, Robotnik had been vaporized and Princess Sally had woken up at last. As Sonic would put it, this is the perfect ending to what had been a very eventful and very hard day...

* * *

_**And that's the end of this re-write! I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you'll agree with me that this is better than the original (Because, you know, it is). **_

_**Special thanks to TCH2 for helping me finish this chapter. :)**_

_**Thanks for reading and I'll see you next fic readers! :D**_


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